After Days Chronicles: A Cabin By a Lake and Things Beyond
by JoeRogue
Summary: They had come to this place in mysterious ways. A tempest in time, had whisked her to him, then him and her to here, a cabin by a lake, in the side of a mountain, in a valley that no map remembered. Rated MA: Sexual Themes, Graphic Violence. Setting: Canon World with a twist, new characters, creatures and magic. All HP content belongs to JKRowling.
1. A Cabin By A Lake

Foreword and Disclaimer

 **Disclaimer** : This story is a reimagining of J. K. Rowlings, Harry Potter characters and world. I do not plan on making any money from it, nor do I think I will. My writing is not great. (this is my first fiction, be easy) I haven't written, even an essay in over 30 years. Please leave a review, constructive criticism especially.

 **Content Info** : Two characters find themselves displaced in time, together in the same location. One character is seven years in his future, the other two years from theirs. They find themselves in an isolated valley hidden by a mountain range. It takes place in the time after the Battle of Hogwarts. It is not quite an AU nor is it quite a time travel story, it's definitely a what if.

 **Rating Info** : This story is written by an adult for adults. There are sexual situations, language and some violence, if that bothers you don't read past this point. That being said, the sexual situations will mostly be implied, but some, that I find necessary to the story line, are, I hope, tastefully graphic. Please send me comments.I hope you enjoy. Rated MA - If you're looking for hardcore porn that uses a lot of words that end in ck, this is NOT for you.

 **Personal Note** : Although I do have an idea on where this story is going, I'm just having fun seeing how it gets there. I know I use way too many commas and my punctuation sucks, and I love to over use adjectives and adverbs, like I said it's been a long time since Ive written a thing except a work order or a facebook post Any constructive criticism would be appreciated. A monumental task, I know.

* * *

 **"After Days Chronicles: A Cabin, A Lake and Things Beyond"**

 _by Joe Rogue_

* * *

...

Chapter I: A Cabin By A Lake  
...

From here to tomorrow  
through troubles and sighs  
nothing is set  
to the stone in our lives.

Destiny rings  
and destiny sings  
but she leaves your fate  
up to you.

...

The girl, in the white sleeveless sundress, was sitting in a ramshackle chair, moving a cloth over the skin of the man, laying in the bed, that was next to her.  
She was a little smaller than average, graceful in an uncoordinated way, with blonde hair that fell just below her shoulders and  
a stargazing look in her eyes that made her appear older than her years but younger than her sorrows.

For seventeen days she's been here, sitting by his side, whenever his pain required her attention.

Her time was entirely consumed with activities, unplanned, cruel and compulsive in their frequency.  
Nursing him occupied almost all of it, ensuring their survival took up the rest. From sun up to sun down she took care of the mundane.  
You could find her outside chopping wood, collecting water, gathering food and ingredients, from the valley around them, never far from the sound of him,  
just in case he should stir.

When the moon took it's turn in the sky, it changed her course but not her momentum. She would sit at the table mixing liniments, potions, and teas, and  
by the fireplace turning the fruits and berries into a loose syrupy manna that she would feed him. When time afforded, she would craft what she could,  
out of the few resources the cabin had left. Like the dress, she wore when she tended to him, or the chairs she repaired with loose railings from the porch,  
and sticks and sissel, she found scattered across the little vale.

The only time she would take for herself, was when she ate, catnapped or bathed. The cool clear water of the pool by the falls soothing to the soul,  
the short walk and the breeze on her wet flesh, reviving.

They had come to this place in mysterious ways.  
A tempest in time, had whisked her to him, then him and her to here.  
A cabin by a lake, in the side of a mountain, in a valley that no map remembered.

She was essentially alone in this place and, with the exception of the wildlife that scurried outside, her mind had few distractions.  
He was her central concern and she was dedicated to getting him well.  
But having him there was a triple edged mercy, one side good the other two, more than a little unkind.  
Though his presence offered her no time to think on her solitude, it also granted her very little rest, and his body, teased at her mind,  
as the fire's light flickered on his skin, enhancing his shape, wistfully, with it's hypnotic tempo.

She watched as her hand moved over his knee up to his thigh, fixed on the bare skin left glistening behind the satin cloth.  
She had memorized every muscle and sinew, every bend of his still listless form, every scar, every hair, every joint.  
Still, sometimes she was taken by surprise, like when her hands touched upon a sensitive, pleasurable nerve and he throbbed or sighed or moaned.

For seventeen days she's felt that too.

So she fights off her desires, and finishes his bath, rises from her chair and crushes some berries or herbs, anything to distract from these selfish yearnings.  
She opens the door and steps on the porch, removes her dress and just stands there, feeling the air and the sun,  
or the moon, flow across her, embracing her.

She closes her eyes just to listen, to the sounds of life around her. The water babbles in the stream steadying her thoughts,  
the night birds gently sing their songs to her and the leaves rustle a calm into the air.

Then a moaning calls her back, it always calls her back.

So she grabs her dress and puts it back on, and listens again, because she thinks she's mistaken, or that maybe her ears are playing tricks on her,  
but she thinks she hears a word, this time.

It's been so long since she's heard a voice, other than her own, that it takes a minute for her brain to translate it and her heart to register it as real.  
And there it is again.

"Where?"

She drifts across the floor, nimbly, takes his hand in hers and whispers as she kisses his forehead tenderly,

 _"Shhhhh , It's okay,"_

 _"Shhhh, I'm here and your safe."_

She strokes the back of her fingers from his temple to his chin,

"Shhhhh, just rest and don't fret."

"Shhh"

and she hums.

It's the same lilting lullaby she's used, to both, ease his mind and keep her own thoughts at bay.

He has more color in his face, she notices, as he eases in to a comfortable sleep.

 _"Almost there,"_ she says to the bird on the window sill, his head cocked to one side in curiosity,

 _"You'll see, he'll be up on his feet, feeding you seeds, in no time."_

 _"So run along now and go play, I've still got some work to do here, let him rest."_

.-. .- ..- ... .

It wasn't very long after the bird left the window, that the shakes came, and when they came they came on him hard.

She crossed the room, with steps that defied her exhaustion, grabbed the blanket from the chair, near the fireplace, and made her way back to the bed,  
where she slipped off her dress, slid into bed and nuzzled against him face to face. His breath teased on her neck as she pulled the blanket over them both.  
The touch of his skin awakened that tempest anew, so she did what she did and she hummed.

It was just a couple of hours before his spasms subsided, then a few more minutes and they broke. Her belly grumbled with hunger and  
her mind ached with the same ferocity, for sleep.

She stood from the bed, careful not to wake him, pulled on her dress, walked to the table and sat.  
The fruits and tea tasted a little bit sweeter, and she let her mind wander outside.  
The moon light cast shadows of the leaves on the sill, the table and the floor. It sparkled on the waters of the brook,  
calling her mind into its captivating grip.

The little bird pecked the seeds from the raspberry she tossed him.

Her eye unconsciously drifted towards the man in the bed, a force of habit she guessed, or maybe more.

She returned to the chair by his side, and finished her snack and tea and, with sated stomach and a sigh of relief,  
she drifted off and away into her own dreams

The scent of their bodies intermingled and swirled around her.  
They found their way into her and teased at her visions, enticing her with a carnal pulse in her core.

She was too tired not to feel it, but way too tired to give in.

-. .- ..- ... .

He woke with a start in a place unfamiliar, his vision unfocused, his ears pounding with the sound of his heart.  
His brain still filled with the remembrance of death and emptiness and agony.

His eyes darted around the room in panic, searching for an escape.  
The light through the window pulled their attention to the figure in white by his side.

Her face, a familiar and fond one, settled his pulse and his dread. The suns rays silhouetted her curves as it glowed against her skin.  
It revealed through the diaphanous cloth she wore, and offered him a glimpse of her. His pulse quickened again at thoughts more rousing.

Glimpses, of the days past, now filtered through him, her soft healing touch, the firmness of her breast against his chest,  
the warmth of the energy she seemed to will to him, and that soft soothing melody she hummed, that charged him to fight against surrender.

From where these visions came, he did not know.  
From where they had come and how they had happened to this place, he realized, he was blind to that too.

He watched as the sun's light touched on her face she looked soul-spent, but beautiful.

She woke like she'd done, every time his bed creaked in his discomfort. She stretched her back, arms to the sky, with a stiff side to side sway,  
then opened her eyes to check on his state. She smiled when she saw him awake.

Her eyes, sparked with an energy, that seemed to command her body to life.

She stood from her vigil, slipped off her dress and drifted towards him.  
She watched his eyes embrace her, as they traced the contours of her waist, tracked the scars, that stretched from the sides of her abdomen,  
disappearing from his view behind her ribs to her shoulders.  
She flushed as they widened at the sight of her small but firm breasts, and touched upon the subtle mound of flaxen, that covered her sex.

When his eyes met with hers again he saw a longing.

No! He saw a knowing. A burning and honest sense of things, that drowned out the distance of their ages, with in a single fate.

He didn't protest when she pulled the blanket from him, or when she covered his body with hers.  
She placed her head on his chest and exhaled, content. He pulled the blanket over them both, wrapped his still aching arms around her, and  
felt her fall into a much deserved and very very deep sleep.

The questions in his mind would wait as he too gave himself up to a slumber, that was free of pain and void of nightmares.

.-. .- ..- ... .

Morning came very different to her this time.  
The scent of raspberries, fruits and freshly cooked trout, the sound of footsteps and toil, and the fragrance of jasmine tea, scentually enticed her awake.  
She started to rise but her body relented, still spent from the weeks of toil.

He heard her sigh and crossed the room, a wooden platter in his hand with a variety of food and drinks carefully arranged upon it.

She saw him up and energetic and smiled.

She struggled to sit as he approached, refusing to give in to her fatigue, the blanket falling from her breast,  
with no hint of embarrassment to unfamiliar eyes.

He placed the plate on the chair and took a seat on the bed next to her, positioned himself to give her support, then helped her sit up against him.  
They sat together for hours this way, her back to his chest, his arms around her, enjoying a meal made from both of their harvests.

With every bite he gave her she smiled. With every sip of tea he put to her lips, she would catch his eyes, and their quiet would travel between them.

When the sun crested across it's apex, they were looking out the open door at their hidden little world.  
A rabbit chewed on grass just off the steps of the porch.

"Where are we?" he asked.

 _"I have no idea even when we are."_

"When?""

 _"Let me try and explain what I know, maybe it will help us both understand."_

"I hope so."

 _"What's the last thing you remember?"_

"I was in the Department of Ministries fighting Deatheaters, Bellatrix, Harry, it's all jumbled."

 _"Well I was in a fight, in the Italian alps, against some dark wizards. I had just cast a battle spell, when one of my companions cast a shielding spell right into it's path."_

 _"some kind of whirlpooley thing pulled me into it, it was like a tornado but odd,and the next thing I knew I was 5 years back in time, I know because I remembered that day as soon as I arrived there,"_

She thought about how to phrase the next part then decided it was best to just rip that band aid right off.

 _"it was the day you died to us."_

"I died?"

 _"or didn't, I guess, Your cousin hit you with a curse, but from inside the tunnel it looked like you jumped into it, to stop Harry from getting hit. Anyway, half of you was disappearing into the veil and the tunnel pulled another half of you out, or all of you, this you, that's here, that's what got pulled in."_

"So this vortex? saved me."

 _"Vortex. Hmm I like that, yes, this vortex pulled you into it, then it shot back like a rubber band and let us out here. Well out there, in the patch of grass over there, where the lake and the stream meet."_

"How long have we been here?"

 _"Eighteen days I think, I tried marking the wall, by the door, every morning, but I might have missed one or two."_

They sat in silence for a spell, puzzling the pieces together in their heads.  
Then he swung around to face her and look in her in the eyes,

 _"Wait, for eighteen days you've kept us alive?" He asked._

 _"Mmmhhhmm."_ She replied, _" You were pretty messed up, your brain was still thinking you were dying and you did have a few bad burns and bruises."_

He understood then in that second, what had come to pass since they settled here, and even more, though she didn't say a word about it,  
what she had done to get him healthy and make sure they survived.  
"How many people would be able to endure that?", he thought, "I don't know of three who could do together what she did alone."

His eyes filled with admiration and awe, for this fragile looking beauty with the strength of a lion.  
She didn't notice, she was too busy watching the rabbit watch her and make funny faces with his nose.

They talked more into the night, the conversation drifting from friends and family, to magic and love and  
the snippets of visions they both had mixed within their dreams.  
She told him of the five years, that she had lived through, the ones that he had only passed through and of what little she learned of the valley around them.

 _"Its a curious place but its warmth is familiar."_

The moon was chasing the sun from the night as they reacquainted, both of them aware of, but neither yet mentioning,  
the bond that was forged between them. By this place or her actions or the temporal storm?  
Or maybe by all of those things together, each one honing a piece of it into them.

The fireplace crackled and popped.

The light golden warmth danced around them and fatigue crept upon them, like a friend.  
They fell asleep, sitting in each others arms and dreamed in each others dreams.

.-. .- ..- ... .

The smell of lilacs drifted in the crisp night air, with a sweetness that lingered on the tongue.  
An owl was hooting.  
The moon was creeping closer towards morning as a frog baruhmed a baritone love song.

The man and the woman who lay in the bed, were sharing a vision, as the years they had passed by without witness, filtered into them.  
It wasn't just the world that they came from, nor was it any world they'd ever seen.  
It was, as if, they were together, in one place, as the other, learning something that neither could put their finger on.

That was the crux of these particular visions, they only left a hint of themselves behind.  
Well not so much of a hint, more like, a tenuous connection to one.  
A connection of yarns that weaved between them, some pieces his, some threads hers.

It wasn't the floral aroma or the noise in the wood that woke her, it was something a little more ravenous,  
another scent that pulled her awake from that place, but not just a scent, his scent and hers, mixed by the air all around them.

It teased at a knowledge within her and lit her a path to follow, edging her on a journey, she longed to take, that, this time, she could share.  
She shifted her body to face his and ran her hand up the inside of his leg slowly, just as she had done so many times,  
in those, so many days before, but different now.

For this was the the first time her hands touched his flesh, without a wall of fabric between them.

The friction of his skin, ignited in her mind, and teased at the sworls, on the tips of her fingers.  
She felt her way confidently, unhurried, but hungry, up the inside of his thigh to his sex, knowing how he would respond to her touch,  
watching his desire come to life in her palm.  
She wrapped her hand around him and felt him growing hotter to her touch, his flesh tightening and filling up her grasp,  
until she was straining, just to encompass him.

Warmer it felt than she recalled and prouder it grew, with each playful rub, rewarding her efforts with the promise of the prize,  
the release she desired, for so many nights.

With a unique and singular gracefulness, she slipped her dress over the curve of her hips, rolled her long slender leg over him and  
slowly lowered herself, onto him, surrounding him deliberately, feeling him parting the edges of her.

Seconds passed like minutes as she drained every bit of time, to the feeling of their joining, inching and building in exquisitely delightful need, and  
when at last she felt the fullness of him inside her and the touch of his stomach pressed up to meet hers, she stopped and their bodies shuddered.

Her dress scraped the hardened, dark, perky circles of skin on her chest, teasing her taut protrusions with it's gauzy fabric, sending waves of life through her.  
She rolled her hips back rhythmically, then forward, an ecstasy rose inside her, and an essence she didn't know possible, flowed,  
growing in her a need to continue.

The hairs of his loins teased her most sensitive places, lifting her higher into her senses and pulling his within it.

She trembled as she kissed him and he woke from his dream, at the same place he left it,  
inside her, consumed by her fragrance and her warm moist, velvety grasp.

The air of the room was humming, he slid off her dress in a single fluid motion.  
The energy around them seemed to flicker to life, gathering itself in a pale blue drone.

He took in the sight of her again and was awash in her beauty, wild, unconventional, unique.

He rolled her over and onto her back, careful not to break their bond.  
She wrapped herself around him, legs and arms pulling him into her, feeling his weight upon her,  
feeling his breath on her chest and her neck.

He felt her strength surround him, their bodies entwined and one as they continued their slow, amorous dance.

She lifted her face to his and kissed him with a passion, a passion he matched and returned, freely.

The blue haze grew brighter and hummed more intensely as they surged into each other, more of their will.

One hand found the small of her back, the other her breast, and he cupped it and teased it.

She looked into him deeper, than anyone had and let him in to the depths of her own.  
She rolled, purposefully into him, pulling not just his sex but his essence into her, aching and arching to push herself, more completely around him.

The haze was now a flame, circling their movements in a ring of bright plasma and a steady, low, rumbling din.

His lips met hers and they breathed in each other.  
His fingers traced the scars on her ribs, following the raised tight flesh to her spine.  
She tensed and got swept over the threshold, as they passed, lightly, on the skin of her back.  
Her eyes widened, her fingers clutched into him holding herself over the edge.

The cool blue fire surged as she let the walls fall, her release raged through her from somewhere deep in her soul.

He stiffened his back to his own need and slowly, fluidly, teased in and out of her, straining to see her through to it's end.

Her hands clenched tighter, her fingertips scraped his flesh, and his own defenses fell when she gasped in his ear and found it's lobe with her teeth.  
Her breath was hot on him, her teeth bit tenderly into the soft node. Whispers swirled and played in their ears.

The blue flame flashed white, then exploded around them, as his seed flowed hotly into her and her climax flowed around him,  
melding their passions to one. Over and again it rose and flared, until spent they collapsed into calm.

The hum slowly waned and the glow softly faded, as their two bodies, flushed with the essence of each other, twitched in their final throws.

He stayed within her, while they recaptured their breath, entranced in the energy that surrounded them.

They looked at each other and feeling the truth of it, laughed, a good and much needed release of joy.  
A soul freeing sound of bliss and honesty.

 _"We should try that again,"_ she said _"only next time, without the three weeks of foreplay."_

Their laughter returned, refilling the cabin with resounding warmth and a promise of something unknown.

When they finally caught their breath, she rolled herself back on top of him, she nestled her head to his chest, and he wrapped her in his arms.  
They drifted asleep, as the moonlight danced across the lake and crept through the cabin's window.  
The olden wooden house seemed to hum to them, a peaceful serenade.

Their bodies, covered only in moonglow and the warmth of each others skin, fell once again, back into dream.

.-. .- ..- ... .

They woke to the sounds of rain and birdsong, feeling alive and more than a little reborn.  
They showered each other and sat by the window, waiting for the rain to break, watched it ripple the puddles, and  
listened to it's drips fall rhythmically against the wood porch floor, not caring if it ever stopped at all.

When the rain, finally did cease, they gathered more fruit, and fed each other, took a refreshing swim in the crystal clear lake, and lazed on a rock by it's shore.  
They spoke very little, enjoying just the presence of the other and the sounds of the life all around them,  
as they stretched an energy back into their limbs and walked the stiffness from their bones.

 _"Sirius?"_

"Yes love?"

 _"I think the nargles have gone, they used to be there right in the broken part of the porch roof."_

"No Lu, They're just over there, in the mist of the falls," he said, pointing at a very large tree, "in the mistletoe on that great big oak."

 _"You can see them too?"_

"See them and talk to them. They asked if you would let them stay, they've grown quite fond of you."

 _"I think I shall, I do miss them when they're gone. I don't need shoes here anyway"_

He was laying back on the grass feeling the sun on his body. She was gathering moss and watching a squirrel wrestle with hazelnuts. Their energy now returned, they were enjoying a moment of simple pleasures, the wind on their flesh, the sounds of the birds songs and the chattering of chipmunks, the rustle of the leaves, the gentle voice of the stream and the passing of clouds overhead.

"So my lovely Luna, what to do next"

 _"Seriously Sirius?",_ she playfully mocked, as she skipped across the stream to pet a bunny. _"We have so much to set right."._

"And so much to learn." he replied.

The curiosity of that blue flame was not lost to either of them.

She crossed back to his side of the stream slowly, feeling the cool water flowing over her toes. He was sitting, by it's bank now, watching as the shadows of the leaves, changed her appearance, to that of a forest nymph. She plopped by his side and nestled up against him.

They held each other tightly, she in his arms, he in hers, content and whole.

 _"We'll need to go to Hogwarts, soon I think,"_ she told him _, "but first we need to find out how this magic works."_

"and what, if anything, it does." he puzzled, "We could experiment with it again if you'd like."

 _"I was hoping you'd say that",_ she responded, biting his neck tenderly.

His fingers traced the length of her spine.

"You sure you don't want to wait til next week?"

 _"Hmm, do you think the vortex has a return policy?"_

. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-.


	2. A Cabin Becomes A Home

_II_

* * *

 **A Cabin Becomes A Home**

* * *

The hollow was encompassed by cliffs on three sides, the north, the east and the west.  
A waterfall flowed from the southern most tip of the western ridge, into a pool, that fed a lake, that fed a stream,  
that flowed into the rock face of the eastern cliffs and disappeared into the mountain itself.  
The valley was flat. Grass sprawled from the northern ridge, to the northern edge of the stream and lake,  
with a cozy but worn cabin placed slightly off center of it's middle.  
Trees dotted this side of the lake shore, and grew thick from it's south side, to almost the end of the vale.  
There were circles and clearings where all manner of fauna roamed, most of them a bit more, than interesting.  
There were thestrals of a bluish hue, and two peacocks with fiery red, orange and yellow tail feathers.  
Even the trees here had unique qualities to them, that made them slightly different from their cousins  
on the rest of the globe.

It was here, that Luna Lovegood and Sirius Black, became the first visitors, to this hidden place, in well over a thousand years.

The last two months had drifted by rather quickly.  
Summer was at it's end, and they knew it was time, to return to the world.

Their lives had been kept busy, by the tasks they had put themselves to, and they had found a peace, in the mundane and  
a calm, in the non-magical crafts they had embraced. It was both therapeutic and energizing for the two wizards,  
and every day they found themselves attached to it more.  
Repairing the cabin, gathering supplies, fashioning clothes, tools and other necessities for their trip,  
were just some of simpler pleasures, they now enjoyed.

They worked diligently, side by side, each one complimenting the other in their projects.  
Where she would make the yarn, he would craft the needles, while she mortared the herbs,  
he would extract the base oils for their potions, while he steadied the boards in place,  
she would hammer them securely to their frame. A quiet, determined, symbiotic, union had been forged between them,  
not just out of necessity, but also out of the respect and admiration they both nurtured and commanded in the other.

They had come to this place with nothing, just their bodies, each other and a will to endure,  
and now they were packed, ready for their next journey. Clothes, food, blankets, potions and candles,  
herbs and charms, even new wands, all made by their own hands, all made with love, were packed in a single sack at their ready.

The cabin was showing signs of that love also. It's once weathered wooden exterior, now had a light honey-gold sheen,  
with a contrast of maple brown trim. The porch was lined with garden boxes, full of herbs and spices,  
even the missing and broken adobe tiles on the roof had been replaced by new ones, crafted from the clay the lake had offered them.

Now, finished with their chores, they were taking the final steps towards the journey ahead and the rekindling of old friendships.

They would have set off on their quest days ago, had their labours not been interrupted, quite frequently,  
by the sessions of lovemaking they could not deny each other. This wasn't due, wholly, in the exploration of a new magic, a primal energy,  
that had erupted into them and birthed around them the first night they had shared their sex.  
But also, quite a number of times, for no other reason, than the joy they felt in each others passion  
and the desire each had to feed the other's rush.

.-. .- ..- ... .

He looked to the sky and, for a brief second, he felt a fear creep into him.  
He remembered a night, similar to this one, he had locked himself in the cabin and despite his requests she had stayed with him.  
The calling never came, and he cried, with relief, in her arms when the sun broke.  
Again now the moon was full and again, the compelling to turn was vacant in his bones,  
for the second fulling in a row, he was thankful, rather than changed.

The events, that had conspired to bring them into this place, had as it seemed, also had the fortunate side effect,  
of making his involuntary transformation, revert back, to his own will, once again.

It was, that night when he had fought an old friend, the cuts and bites, from the battle, securing in him the same fate,  
that the other had been consigned to, many years before.  
For two years after, he was resigned, to locking himself away on the last waxing moon, to protect every one around him.

A few times he hadn't made it and woke the next day, covered in blood, not his own, with no memory of the previous nights events.  
He'd piece things together, but never delved too deeply, in fear of what he might find.  
Most of those nights he managed to safely lock himself in a self mutilated mess,  
scarred and torn from his own maw and claws. The only nights, he suffered unscathed,  
were the ones he spent with a feathered friend, a big, gentle mashup of equine and avian forms, who had, the uncommon ability,  
to quell the beast's urges. He was a creature, named Buckbeak, who, in a weird twist of fate,  
became his companion on the same day he was cursed.

Now no longer was the summoning of that celestial orb, that ruled the tides, his master.  
"The moon is no longer my nightmare," he thought to himself, "for Luna is now my sun.",  
and upon hearing the irony in the words he just mused, a heartfelt laugh burst from within him,  
broadening the smile, he now almost always wore, even if it was just in his eyes.

That smile grew even wider at the sight before him.  
She was skipping in circles around him, talking to the fauna, that shared, what they had come fondly to think of as home.  
A home they now, had to part from for a time.

''Almost done Little One?", he asked.  
"A few more skips, and we're off on our trip", she replied.  
Then she threw herself into the tall grass, and motioned as if she were making snow angels, giggling as the shorter blades tickled her inner thigh.  
She rose from the grass, the moonlight kissing her skin, then with a skip and a hop she was wrapped around him, her lips teasing his, with their closeness.

"It's done", she said quite contently, all the while pecking his cheeks and face, hiding the sadness she felt at having to leave this little glade.  
"The flora and fauna, the mist and the air will hide this little valley of ours and gently nudge, away and around, all who would stumble upon it."

He was, and probably always would be, amused at the way that she spoke to the earth.  
Skipping was her voice, a magic all her own, a code in every step and the earth responded to her, in the echos of her very own foot steps.

They made their way to the porch, where their clothes awaited them.  
The freedom, to enjoy the air on their skin, they would miss while they traveled, but they knew they'd return often,  
and one day, not too far off in the distant future, they would finally come back to stay.

A voice broke the drone of the crickets and night-birds,  
"Hello?" it questioned, in a puzzled tone.  
"Why is Wizzen here?", it continued, "Wizzen is lost maybe?"

Seeing the house elf paddle up the mossy trail Luna smiled.  
He was covered in scars, and tromped his steps, yet he looked with wonder, at the wood around him.

"Hello" she said.  
"Evening" replied Sirius.

"Wizzen is not lost", continued Luna, answering the dumbfounded elf's question, "Wizzen is home, if he'd like to be."  
"Wizzen is", he paused, even more baffled than before, "home?"

He could not understand the concept, you see, for all of his life as far back as he could recall, he had no _home._  
He had been owned by a cruel master, a master who kept him in the pig poke and beat him, relentlessly, for his own twisted pleasure.  
He knew nothing of house elfery and to be honest, the thought of it, actually scared him.

The only good in his life, was when he broke free, late in the night, and tended to the garden,  
of the nice little girl ,who lived next door, that occasionally brought him plum bread and turnip nectar.  
He would sneak through the wire, while his master slept, sneak to the garden where he would work,  
weeding and replanting, staking and snipping and talking to the sickly plants, to return her kindness.  
Watching the garden bloom, from his filthy little cage , he could feel it heal the wounds in his soul.

"Yes, Home", replied Luna in a airy and comforting tone, "I think this forest has brought you here."  
He pondered her words with great care.

"How did you come to be free?" inquired Sirius.  
"My masters mastiff gave me a sock." he replied.  
Sirius and Luna both laughed, loud and generous laughs.  
"Socks have away of doing that." they knew.

"You may call me Sirius." he said, once able to catch his breath, "and I Luna" she half giggled.  
"Master and Mistress ask me to use their names?"  
"No! Not your masters" replied Luna, "just two people in the valley, who ask our new friend, Wizzen, to use our names."

Then noticing he still didn't quite grasp his new found reality, she took his hands and looked in his eyes and  
spoke the words that would, hopefully, enlighten him, "These woods are Wizzen's Master and Mistress now."

His eyes brightened when the words sunk in and he beamed as he bound from the ground to a tree limb and bounced,  
from branch to branch until he perched upon the highest bough and looked upon the sight of his new mistress,  
and thanked her for a home to serve. The wind touched his cheek with acceptance.

"Sirius'' she said, in that certain voice of hers, the one he knew all too well, "once more under our home's stars, love?"  
He didn't answer, he didn't have to, he couldn't deny her, just as she could not deny him, nor would they ever,  
and they both knew it.

Slowly they had gotten dressed, slower now, they plied away the garments they had just adorned.  
They pieced away the fabric, teasing each other, gently touching or kissing each inch revealed, as if this was their first night.

He kissed and tasted his way, up the surprisingly muscular contours of her inner thighs, tenderly,  
enjoying the scent that grew in her, just inches from his nose,  
enticing him steadily higher. His tongue swirled circles, around the mound of soft blonde hair,  
that framed the soft lips, that called to him with their musk, and it tickled her belly to strain.  
He found her lips with his finger tips and gently, teased them apart, then he placed his mouth to it's sweetness,  
she tensed her back and let out a sigh.  
She gripped his hair and pulled his face closer, returning his kiss,  
with the moist velvety lips, that now, were teased upon his tongue.

She pulled him up to his full height, and kissed him.  
He lifted her gently, supporting her weight with his hands and guided her to him.  
Feeling him touch up against her, she lifted her legs, wrapped them around his waist and embraced him,  
pulling him into her slowly.  
One arm, across his back, drew him near, the other found the back of his shoulder and was guiding him slowly to her.  
She nibbled his neck and kissed her way down to tease his chest with her teeth and tongue.

They made love, among the moss and tall grass, moving slowly, entwined until their passion woke a flame..  
And again, until the flame grew and flashed.  
And again until they were spent, the moonlight glistening off their sex drenched skin,  
their flesh flush with the blood of their love and passion, their pulses heightened by the rush of their rapture.

Their laughter drowned out the chorus of the creatures that sang through the night.  
They rested in each other as they came back to life, and the symphony of nature's song returned.

They rose and showered, had a quick meal of berries and jerky, dressed each other once again, gathered their tripsacks and set out into the night.

"Ready love?", he asked.  
"Yep.", she replied, as she skipped down the walkway to the little glade were a small family of thestral lived.  
"Only we could find a lair of blue thestral." he said, prompting another giggle from the skipping girl.  
"They are quite rare, indeed." she smiled.

"Night Wizzen.", they shouted, as their mount passed the tree the elf was still upon, "we'll be back soon."  
"Night Luna, night Wolfkind," he replied as he waved, 'Wizzen will take care of Master and Mistress. Wizzen hope you a safe return."  
"Thank you kind sir." the smaller wizard replied, her body held tightly in the others embrace.

"Wolfkind?" Sirius asked quizzically.  
"The forest called you that too, on more than one occasion," she said.  
Then a smile grew as she turned to face him and half still giggling said, "Another mystery to unpuzzle, unravel, undo."  
Then with a rush of his wings, their mount, took to the clouds and headed towards, a castle they once knew.

 _"I wonder if cardinals like being red."_  
"We'll have to find a friendly one and ask."


	3. A Tower Of Spectral Musing

_III_

* * *

 **A Tower Of Spectral Musing**

Karma is like fire  
It's not good, it's not bad  
It's just fire  
It's what **you** do with it, that makes it seem good or evil  
but it's still just fire  
Use it to cook food for the hungry  
Use it to burn someone's house down  
It's your choice  
It's your intention  
That's what makes **you** good or evil  
Fire is still just fire  
Karma is still just Karma

Ja Sixthree, "The Cryogenic Dysenteries"

* * *

Through the darkness and brush he could see a bouncing silhouette getting closer with each little hop.  
Her blonde hair was the first to take color, her puffy pink shirt the next.  
She closed the distance from the town to where her companions waited.  
Sirius watched as she came up the hill, through the thicket, to the clearing, where he and Twilight waited.

"Well what's the verdict?" he asked.  
 _"San Costantino a few miles south of Austria."_  
"Let's mark the map, where here now, the valley is just over here on the other side of that peak. Did you get a date?"  
 _"August twenty seventh two thousand and three, seems we've both been dead for a few years, me for two you for seven."  
"_Well, I hope our friends are good at being surprised."  
 _"If not we may have need of a potion or two."_

With a better idea which direction to fly, they took to the sky and headed Twilight northwest.

-. .- ..- ... .

The dark blue horse, with the batlike wings, made excellent time of their flight.  
It was barely eight hours before the familiar landscape caught their attention.

The night air was cooler here, than it was over their valley.  
and the wind across the thestral's wings whistled, with a subtle difference,  
as if the air itself was changing it's melody.

They could see Ravenclaw tower, long since repaired, aglow in lamplight and shrouded in haze.  
It was stoic and still, with the exception of a lone figure that flittered and shimmered, almost illusory, against the mist.  
The conical roof, that once rose flush from it's walls, was now a gazebo set atop a new solid stone floored battlement.

There in the uppermost reaches the feminine figure sat, her grey gown appeared shadowlike to the walls of block around it.  
She was still and serene, gazing across the castle grounds, embracing it's slow and subtle rebirth.

They scanned below for a spot in the trees and saw a clearing that seemed safe to land.

Luna was nestled snugly in Sirius's arms, his oversized coat, wrapped around them both,  
as she gently nudged their mount's reigns toward the dark forest.  
The blue beast casually turned, with a wide banking loop.

Twilight, landed with surprising grace for such a gangly creature.  
Barely a twig break was heard under hoof.  
They dismounted onto firm ground, for the first time in nearly a third of a day,  
stretched and gathered their feet beneath them.

They walked side by side, never more than inches from each other,  
across the field, to the great entrance, of the aged scholarly dwelling.

It was a bittersweet homecoming.  
This place had once been a home to them both.  
It had also been a war zone, at the heart of a conflict, that took so many of their friends.

It was late in the summer, and the school was still closed.  
It's silence sparked a memory in her,  
a dull aching portrait, of a day that changed, so many lives and families forever.  
The quiet had only lasted for a second but it stuck in her like a blade.  
It fell upon them all, after the dark one was ended, and the cheers of victory subsided,  
in that moment between joy and the inevitable return of lament.  
The screams of the injured and the tears of those still standing, as they counted loves lost,  
had hushed any celebratory voice, and burned to this day in all who were witness.  
Never, would they talk of that day, and not end, sullen in their tribute.

She sighed at the memory of the boy who's hand she took at the end of that carnage.

"Lu?" he asked, knowingly.  
"I'm okay Paddie", she replied, "I'm just remembering. So much loss, for one selfish desire."

She had taken the boy's hand in comfort, he had accepted it, with what he thought was love.  
She knew it wasn't.  
Oh, she knew, that they would be more than friends, but not the kind that share a lovers bed.  
He loved someone else, whether he accepted it or not, someone who he physically couldn't be with,  
someone, who also wanted him.

Luna had seen the subtle changes in the boy, when the girl was around him.  
She'd seen the calm in him and the gentle smile that crossed his face, whenever she was near,  
even if he didn't know she was present.

"I hope we can fix them," she said. "I do so want to see them happy."  
"I have faith, Little One," he said, as she leaned back to him.  
His hands found their way into hers and she lovingly took them around her.

"This is how a home should feel," they both thought to themselves, "comfortable, warm and strong."

-. .- ..- ... .

Quietly and quickly they made their way through the courtyard and gained entrance to the great hall.  
They made their way through the moving staircase, passed the potions lab and found their target.  
A room, within the commons of Ravenclaw, that very few people visited anymore.

The room was cool dark and still.

"Ready to try this stuff out?" He asked.  
"If it don't work at least we'll have fun." She replied.

Luna laid the blanket they had quilted, just days before, upon the cold cracked tiles of the room's floor.  
She placed her new wand to it's corners and called up a levitation and raised it just inches from the ground.  
She was pleasantly delighted at the feel of the magic and the way her freshly crafted wand let it flow.  
"That's a good start." she thought.

Sirius was busy lighting and placing candles to the four cardinal directions, around the blue and gold colored cloth.  
One to each corner, a fifth he suspended above the center of it.  
He too was pleased by the finesse and the eagerness with which his wand responded.  
The candles were lit, all the flames equidistant from each other, for the candles had been placed with meticulous care.

They met each other at the edge, between north and east, and undressed, methodically and silently.  
They folded their clothes just as quietly, filling their minds, with their intentions for this casting.

They took each other's hand and purposefully made their way to the center of the blanket.  
They stood close and getting closer, they embraced, pressed their bodies together and melded into a kiss.  
No words were spoken, but their deliberate and impassioned breathing, invoked, in both, it's intended design.

She could feel him, harden and stir, he could feel her heat emanate from within her.  
Their muskiness started to fill the air and charge it with a subtle aura.

A whisp stirred, in a corner of the room, a recess just far enough for the light to just touch it.  
It perked up it's head from it's resting place and tried to explain this energy it felt.  
Eyes peeking from behind a stall door, curious as to the scent that was filling it's head with anticipation and  
a childlike nervousness of discovery.

Luna smiled at Sirius acknowledging their audience's presence.

He lowered himself before her and sat on the makeshift bed, crossed his legs with resolve,  
and placed his hands on her hips, holding her steady ,as she moved teasingly towards him.  
He felt her fingers take his temples as she shifted her weight towards him.  
She ran her fingers through his hair and pressed herself against his lips as his hands found their way up the backs of her legs.  
He teased his way up and held the curves of her in his palms.  
He hugged her closer still.  
She touched her velvety lips to his and he wasted no time returning her kiss.  
Her taste encouraged the blood that stiffened him, her scent sent his blood to race.  
His tongue teased her to shudder and arch as a ribbon of pleasure wound in her womb.

She lingered there, wanting to stay as they were, just as much as he did.  
She looked down on her lover's face as he coaxed her desires to build.  
She was tempted to allow him to continue, but fought the selfishness from her mind.

As the eyes of their onlooker grew wider, curiosity taking it's hold,  
it started floating ever so slowly, closer to the object of her attention.  
The specter crossed the distance between them, enticed by the sight before it.

She lowered herself onto him gracefully, and as his hot hard flesh, parted the moist lips of her sex, they both felt their energy flow.  
They kissed deeply as she teased them both, slowly working herself on to him,  
until she could go no further.  
Their union full, their bodies joined, a blue wave forming around them.

Wrapping her legs and encircling him, she slowly started to rock against him, teasing them both with the static that was building.  
Arms wrapped each other tight, touching and teasing, their kisses the very air they needed to breath.  
Hands tracing patterns against each others skin as their tempo, almost imperceptibly, increased.

The blue glow started to swirl around them as fingers found tender spots and teeth teased at neck and ears.  
He grasped her breast in his hand and pinched at her hardness and the fire swirled outwards around them.  
She nibbled his neck and scratched her nails down his back and the flame grew bluer and brighter.

The apparition held spellbound by the sight before it, let out a gasp of longing  
as thoughts of it's own body returned to it's mind.  
The ethereal layer of modesty lost, to the energies that played within it, it's true visage revealed to all.  
The vaporous body tried touch itself, a hint of fullness returned, lost in this moment it hardly noticed.  
It's hands found their way, guided by memory, one to a breast,  
another to the pink nub that now strained and poked from it's hood, just above it's own once fleshy, sex  
and it writhed with an unbridled moan.

The flames grew brighter and more steadily outward, until all three souls were encompassed by it's light.  
The candlelight became purposeful, dancing and darting, until each one focused it's light to another,  
and a pyramid of rays was formed by that effort, housing the three beings with in it.

Luna could feel her body, giving into the control, of the pleasure it knew was coming.  
Her movements became more paced and passionate as her lover began to meet her rhythm.

The once transparent being with them, seemed more solid, than when they began  
much in the way stained glass, seems more substantial than clear.  
It was beginning to feel that way too, as it's touch was rewarded, by more than a tingle of ghostly effervescence.

"Come closer Myrtle," Luna projected, to the almost frantic ghost,  
and with out thought, the now very stimulated apparition, complied, and came to their side.  
One hand, steadily, gliding fingers in and out of it's _self_ ,  
the other gripping it's chest with desire.

Their hands reached out and touched her.  
Sirius's arm wrapped around the now semi solid form and pulled her nearer to them,  
his hand found her other breast and squeezed,  
as Luna's fingers traced a line from her navel on up to her neck.  
The sensation of touch made the once vaporous girls body stiffen.  
When both the lovers lips found her neck, her back arched harder,  
straining for more, and the blue flame flickered red, then burst green,  
and the three were swept up, in a delicious torrent of pleasure.

The green fire hummed to match their crescendo, then flashed white in response to their climactic release,  
it lingered through their spasms, then faded, as they waned.

Luna and Sirius fell into each other and steadied themselves from falling.  
Myrtle sprawled on the blanket shaking, her legs apart in an obliviously shameless display.  
A mist covered her body, ripples pulsed through her,  
quieter sounds, escaped from within her and out of her lips uncontrollably.

The flame passed and the candlelight returned, to casting a warm gold glow against the room's tiled walls.  
The two wizards, still joined together, laughed once again at the feeling this magic's crescendo evoked.

She was still around him and he in her, when Myrtle, still quivering, asked, "How?".  
"New magic," the willowy blonde replied, her head on her lovers shoulder, gazing at the form, of the sex spent now semi translucent girl.  
"Why me?" she implored.

Luna then explained to her, in not so much detail as to be boring,

 _"After that battle was over, I wanted to make love to someone, that I chose to give myself too."_  
 _"I wanted it to be Neville, but I could tell he wanted somebody else, even if he didn't know it himself."_  
 _"So I went no further."_  
 _"Then I noticed how much cheerier he was when you were around, even if he didn't know you were there"_  
 _"I saw how you would sometimes appear, while he was reading or studying, or sleeping and just watch him."_  
 _"I also noticed that you changed too, not just your demeanor but your face and your appearance became more elegant."_  
 _"You were becoming the Myrtle you could have been."_

Myrtle blushed at hearing the last statement, then apologized for ruining her chance, to be with a boy she liked for her first time.  
Luna giggled.

"Silly Myrtle, he wouldn't have been my first, just my first by choice."  
"There's no need for you to apologize," she added quite factually, "the trees weren't blooming that night."

Myrtle knew then, the rumors were true,  
and now, that she could see the girl and not the scene, of the act, she just witnessed,  
she saw the scars that crossed the girls body, from her stomach to her back and her ribs to her shoulder blade,  
and felt a pang of horror, for the treatment she endured by the hands of that bastard and his blackhearted allies.  
The torture and torment she had somehow bore, seemed impressive enough to have survived,  
adding a violation of her sex to that, made it incomprehensible to believe, that she could still be, the same Luna, unchanged.  
Yet there she was, just herself, quirky and quietly peaceful as ever  
in her airy almost far off way.  
She admired the girl for it and told her such.

Realizing just how much, the little framed girl had been through  
and how she somehow managed to keep herself, herself,  
made her feel littler at having allowed Olive Hornby, to be the seed, of her undoing.  
She felt a strength grow in her, felt it roots fill a place in her core and an energy, course, through her spine.

She kissed Luna full on the cheek and, felt that cheek, against her lip and gasped.

"I can still feel you!" she shouted, shocked at the warmth of the others skin.  
"Why do you think we went through all this", Sirius said, still holding his love in his arms, "a cheap thrill in a dingy bathroom?"

 _"There's no way we could bring you back to life, but we did make you a little more solid."_ Luna added.

"You might want to take it easy for a bit, at least until you get the memory of what form you're in."  
"Doors and walls may prove to be a headache, literally"

 _"There's no reason for you to be alone anymore,"  
"you can read, write, touch and feel."_  
 _"but if you're feeling very Myrtley you can still sneak into the boys shower through the wall."_ _  
_

They laughed a bit loud as the other blushed at the accusation, then gave in to a giggle herself.

 _"If you would be so inclined, could you meet us at Hagrid's tomorrow night?"  
"We have a lot of catching up to do."_

Myrtle assured them she would be there, while touching her own face and enjoying the feeling  
of every single strand of hair.

 _"You're naked now, but you can wear clothes again,  
with practice, I think, you can cloak your whisp-form, in at the very least, a gown.  
I just don't know the mechanics, you'll have to learn that as you go."_

"Just remember not to shift back to a whisp in public until you learn it, the first years won't need that kind of distraction," Sirius teased,

Myrtle herself roared at the picture that popped in her head, of some slack jawed boys staring in wide eyed wonder.

She gave them both a hug and a kiss, before running naked, through the castle,  
in search of something to wear on her knew found frame.  
Something _not_ a school uniform.  
They could hear her footsteps echoing down the hall her moans of displeasure replaced by joy.  
"Off to the room of requirements." she shouted as her feet slapped soundly on the hard stone floor.

"There's some dirty old ghosts that are going to get a show tonight." Sirius joked.  
"I just hope none of them lose their head." Luna replied.

The two of them stood, stretched and were about to get dressed, when Luna turned Sirius back around to her.  
She nuzzled her head, into his chest and he responded, by wrapping his arms around her,  
letting one hand trace, one of the bigger scars on her back, from her shoulder to the curve of her ass.  
She sighed as she kissed his neck, then made her way down his chest to his stomach kissing and tasting his skin.  
She lingered to smell, the sex they just had, on the patch of hair below his navel, then kissed her way lower.

He stiffened again at her touch, she encouraged him with her hand gently stroking,  
then opened her mouth and placed his warm, still slick flesh, between her lips.  
She licked the tiny opening, sending shivers coursing through him  
She drew him in past her lips, to the back of her tongue.  
He slowly lowered himself to the quilt and laid down on his back,  
letting her match his pace,  
he gently shifted his body, head to her feet.  
She rhythmically raised and lowered her mouth over him.  
He lifted her hips gently over his face, parted her still hot musky lips with his thumbs and ran his tongue deep into her.  
He grew harder as he felt her mouth tease all the way up to the crown and back again.  
She purred as his tongue found her hood and teased the sensitive flesh beneath it, he growled as her purr resonated through him.  
She giggled as his growl quivered the hairs of his mustache tickling her sensitive nub.  
They continued this way, getting lost, in each others passion, until they were greeted, by the taste, of the others completion.

She cuddled up to him as they planned the next day while they allowed their bodies to recover.  
Then they rose, and they showered, packed their gear, and made their way to the wailing shack, to eat and nap until morning.

"This place smells like wet dog."  
 _"Good thing we brought the flowery stuff."_

 _. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-._


	4. A Tower Of Spectral Counsel

_IV_

* * *

 **A Tower Of Spectral Counsel**

* * *

Sirius woke to a playful humming, opened his eyes and turned to see his companion, sitting by the door on a makeshift cushion.  
The glow from the partly opened door, highlighted her sinewy build, with rays of light that painted her shadow on the floor.  
The slowly swaying girl was pulling stems from the berries and fruit that she had gathered just a few minutes ago.

She sensed him awaken and playfully ignored it, exaggerating her movements as she felt his eyes, enjoying her presence.  
"Did you pick all that naked?" he asked.  
"Of course", she replied, "Wanna go for a dip after we eat? There's a nice little cove, just over the tracks, not a bunny hop from here."

He rose from the bed they had fashioned out of blankets, crossed the floor and sat down behind her.  
Her body leaned into the warmth of his chest.  
He put his head on her shoulder, reached around her and grabbed a handful of berries,  
pulled the stem from one and put it to her lips, just as she was doing the same.  
She deftly plucked the fruit from his hand with her tongue,  
as he gently teethed the one she offered from her fingertips.  
His beard tickled her ear, she giggled.

The little shack had no windows, but light streamed in from the separation between the walls and roof line.  
If it had them and someone were so inclined to peer in, they would have seen two bodies, close enough to be one.  
One body with four arms working in unison as the two heads, pressed ear to ear, lightly shifted, sensually, against each other.

They fed each other the fresh feast of the forest's fruit, then walked across the soft late summer grass to the cove,  
she had found on her morning gather.  
They settled in to the cool clear water and just held each other as the sun waxed until almost noon.  
Time slowed, yet moved too quickly when they were lost to life like this,  
so they gathered themselves up and left the cool water behind.

Walking back to the shack the air tingled their bare wet skin.  
He smiled as she skipped ahead, thanking the earth in her way.  
They packed their gear, dressed, offered the berries that were left, to the birds and other critters,  
and headed off to a cabin just over the rise.

.-. .- ..- ... .

They arrived at the cabin some time around noon.  
Luna wrapped on the door to announce their presence.  
It creaked as it opened.

The big burly form of the man who dwelled behind it, was taken aback by the sight the day presented.  
He bounded towards them and embraced them both with one big hug.

"Sirius!? Luna!?" he said with surprise, half exclaiming and questioning, at once,  
"Merlin's pant, ow can this be? Me manners come in, come in.

He sized the two of them up, still unsure he was even awake,  
"Buckbeak be glad to see you Mr Black, as I am, to see you both ... alive?"

"Yes very much alive, my friend", the thinner man replied,  
Luna gave the big man a hug, just prove to him she was solid,  
her arms barely stretched across his belly.  
"Buckbeak is here?" Sirius asked.  
"Yea, When 'arry moved to the city 'e asked if 'e could bring 'im home. 'ow could I say no?".  
"I can't wait to see him," the younger man continued, "but first we have things to sort."  
"and questions to be reasoned," Luna completed.

The grizzly man fixed some tea and cracked open a bottle of his finest fire whiskey.  
The three of them sat on the porch that overlooked the forbidden forest and talked well into the early evening.  
While they chatted Hagrid noticed the way his two friends were together.  
It wasn't that they completed each others sentences on occasion,  
or even that they completed each others thoughts now and then, that tickled him.  
It was something, graceful, like there was a fluidity to them, even the air between them was somehow different.  
"Like a trail of warm air on a cool lake." he thought.

Their conversation turned to Hogwarts, the rebuilding and the last few years of enrollment.  
The school would be opening for a new session soon and still had no permanent headmaster.  
Minerva McGonagall had taken over the position, and had done well with the the schooling and rebuilding,  
but she really wasn't happy with the post.

"She almost seem sad." Hagrid informed them, "quieter than afore."

"Yu'd make a right fine headmaster, mister Black, I can bring yer name to the table."  
"Thanks for the thought my friend, but I don't think it's right for me." Sirius replied.  
"We have someone in mind, but she needs her feet.", Luna chimed, while feeding a chipmunk.

Hagrid looked at her and took in the changes in the young wizard, subtle they were, but not so much as not to be noticed.  
She was still _her_ , but the dowdiness she once imbued, now had a confident grace to it.  
If you knew her as an acquaintance she would have seemed unchanged, but those who fought beside her,  
or even bothered to talk with her, would see it clearly.

In regards to the man he thought longer dead, he too had changed, he seemed more complete,  
more focused and warmer than he had before, and there was a hope in his eyes that made him look even stronger,  
than he looked the last time he saw him.

They were wrapping up their conversation and making plans for later,  
when a tall lanky man stepped into view, making his way on the walkway that led to them.

"Neville!" Luna beamed, then skipped down the path to embrace her friend.  
She knew he liked to come to school early, to set up his classroom and chat with his old friends,  
but she was still pleasantly surprised to see him.

"Luna!? What? Where? How!?" he stammered hugging her close as a brother does a sister  
he thought lost, or worse, dead, for two years,  
she could feel his tears on her cheek before he picked her up and lifted her high.  
"Come she said let's walk" and she took his hand and lead him to a log where she caught him up on things.

Hagrid excused himself from his friend and returned a few minutes later with an old companion in tow.  
Buckbeak saw Sirius and pounced like a puppy, his head hitting him square in the chest,  
knocking his long missed companion to the ground.  
The two rolled on the grass like kids in the mud, the half birds hooves sending dirt flying everywhere,  
his giant wings turning it to dust and covering half the cabin in it.  
Hagrid, his belly rumbling with laughter at the sight before him, left them to their reunion,  
to fix some food, "Tonight a feast!" he boomed.

.-. .- ..- ... .

Luna and Sirius were preparing the table that Hagrid had brought outside.  
Neville couldn't help notice, a fluency to their motions, as he helped Hagrid, bear the food to the place where they would dine.  
There was a familial joy that filled the air, laughter and remembrances filling the time til they sat down to eat.

"Can I help?" came a voice, familiar to their ears.  
Luna turned and greeting the newest member of their sup,  
responded with a slight mischievous tone "You can help set up the chairs.", she told her.  
Hagrid and Neville stood dumbstruck staring at the apparition, as she placed the chairs around the long rectangular buffet.  
Hagrid puzzled, looked to the two returned, for illumination and was met only with a wink from Sirius's eye.

Neville stood transfixed as if he had seen a basilisk's reflection in the very eyes of the girl he was taking in.  
Stone faced and mouth agape, not speaking a single word.

She was dressed in a white gossamer top and a skirt of deep red hue with gold accents, slits up the side midway to her hip.  
She wore no shoes, and her hair was braided and flowed midway down her back.  
Her glasses were gone.

"How silly a ghost was I," she joked to Luna, when she commented on her eyes, "a ghost that needs glasses, pfft."

Neville still unsure of his own eyes, took in the sight before him.  
The curve of her hips, full and succulent, the hourglass shape that formed from her hips to her chest.  
He could see the silhouette of her breasts and the dark patch on each, that teased him through her almost sheer top.

With a will of someone who could feel, for the first time in years,  
she approached the now boyish looking man, and wrapped her arms around him.  
He looked long into her face still astonished at this turn of fate and ran his hand along her cheek,  
taken by the warmth emanating from her.

"It's not polite to stare you silly boy", Luna jibed, but his mind was elsewhere,  
as the being who had stood watch over his dreams, so many nights, pulled his face to hers and kissed him.  
All the years of desire flowed between them as their lips met and bodies melded.

"Ahem", grunted Hagrid loudly, bringing their friends back into their perception.

"Let's eat first" said Sirius, "then you two can frolic in the sheets"  
"or the meadow."continued Luna.  
The flush across their faces filled the air with laughter.

They ate and talked and joked, well into the night.  
When dinner was done they cleared the table and put things back in their place,  
then the five of them walked to the lake to watch the moon rise.  
They sat quietly for a while, just enjoying the friendship.  
Luna and Sirius leaning into each other,  
Myrtle was on Neville's lap and they were holding each other, like someone was going to wake them.

It was Luna who broke the silence, "Does anyone know of wolfkind?", she asked.  
"Wolfkind?, where'd you hear of that?", Hagrid asked.  
They told him of the elf in the tree and his parting words, and the gentle giant excused himself to find a tome he'd long forgotten.

"Moons high." Luna declared.  
She and Sirius bade their friends a good night with a touch of jest at their designs on the evening.  
Myrtles face flushed, Neville's turned redder.

They walked to the cabin to tell Hagrid good night, he stopped his search to hug them both warmly again,  
and off they were to the tower of Ravenclaw to visit a ghost up high.

.-. .- ..- ... .

The lady in the battlement was not expecting company, and was surprised when two forms appeared,  
from the stairway at her feet.  
She was about to drift through the floor and escape to her solitude when she heard her name and a plea for an audience.

"Lady Ravenclaw, we need your help, if you'd please."  
It was Luna who had started the conversation, knowing the apparitions justified, mistrust of men.

"How can I possibly be of any assistance to you?" she responded with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Knowledge."

"Knowledge?" she retorted "of what nature would you be inquiring?"

"Wolfkind." stated the younger.

Helena's eyes sparkled, there was something she read many years ago and didn't get a chance to finish,  
her annoyance changed to curiosity and she felt a tinge of joy for the challenge.

There was something else there too, a desire to be useful again, to help, to be.  
Ever since Lord Voldemort brought his minions to the gates and  
all she could do was watch him reign death upon her home,  
there was a fire in her to be helpful again and now, here were those who needed it.  
She asked them what they knew, which was nothing.

She sat on the battlement and ran through her memory looking for a hint to where she had heard that before.

"It was when I was still alive, I think", she said not to them in particular but out loud nonetheless,  
"a book? no? a tome? Yes, yes a tome, but in the form of a scroll, an ancient magical scroll hidden behind a mundane title,  
coiled in the pages of a book."

A sad look crossed her faced as she looked upon those who sought her aide, the memory of the book's fate recalled.

"Sorry the information you seek is long gone, destroyed in the first wars as _magic unfit_.", she said solemnly.

"Maybe not." Sirius responded. "Hagrid says he thinks he may have this book."  
"or something like it." added Luna.

Upon that name, Helena Ravenclaw's demeanor changed, the elegant and almost arrogant guise,  
shifted to one of a more inquisitive nature.  
They both picked up on this, it wasn't hard, for even the air around them went from cool to temperate.

"You know Hagrid?" Luna asked.

She gazed out over the scenery below, looking at nothing at all.  
"I watched the battle from the windows below here, all the death and dying" she replied,  
"I could feel his empathy for all who fell." That was all that her lady like manner would offer.

"Do you think you could help him find this tome?" Luna asked.

"I could help him identify it but, as you can guess", she said, while showing her hands,  
"I can't help him search very well."

Luna smiled, "He's there now, in his cabin and can lend you his hands if you could lend him your memory."

"I'll go then." she said, with some hesitation.

It had been years since she had ventured beyond these cold tower walls, just one step to change her tomorrows.

"Can you meet us here tomorrow night, shortly after moonrise?" Luna asked.  
She responded with a nod and drifted from the tower, with a seed of conviction, in the direction of her quest.

"To bed my love?" Sirius asked.  
"To bed my sweet." was her reply.

They made their way back to the shack they had claimed as a temporary abode,  
stopping to look at the stars and more often than that, to hold each other close.  
By the time they made the cabin's door, they were undressed and already wrapped in the beginnings of love.  
They opened the door and were greeted by the sight, of a bed, a desk, some chairs and a lantern.

There was a letter written in big bold letters,  
it's white paper contrasting, against the dark maple desktop.

.-.. . - - . .-.

My friends,

If you need more, please let me know.

Your Friend,  
Rubeus Hagrid.

.-.. . - - . .-.

"Should have known he would be the one to figure us out,"  
 _"Well, he is akin with the critters."_

 _. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-._


	5. The Last Days Of Old Ways

_V_

* * *

 **The Last Days Of Old Ways**

* * *

The sun was new in the sky but not fresh.  
Hagrid, still asleep in his chair, was mumbling through the end of a dream, incoherently.  
"Helena," he said, or so she thought she heard, from his gravely and half slumbering voice.  
He fidgeted, burped, opened his eyes, stretched the sleep from his arms and seeing it was near midday grumbled,  
"You bumbling big bag of bone, slept the day din't ya, ya silly git."

Something slightly out of place caught his eye and looking in the direction of the cause, he saw the Grey Lady,  
sitting on his windowsill, looking upon him red faced.  
"Sorry Ma'am" he said sheepishly, thinking his actions had offended her.  
His head pointed down at the ground, like an admonished puppy,  
a rather humorous sight to see, considering his beastly countenance.

She had spent a good part of the night, looking through books, for  
the scroll tome that recorded the last known knowledge of the wolfkind.  
Some of them were scattered across tables and chairs, others on shelves,  
some still in the opened chest they had only half emptied out.

Having no form, to pull books from their rest or turn them face out to the pages within,  
she judged all the ones she could see, then waited for him to wake, to get her some more.

She found herself, at that moment, looking upon the man, then realized she had been lost in him for quite some time.  
The red color returned to her cheeks, though no blood within her flowed.  
She stood up, and mindlessly brushed her dress, to unwrinkle the creases, a distraction from her bashful display,  
her vaporous hands flowing across the apparition of cloth, downward, from her waist to the floor.

"It's okay," she replied, as regal as possible, "could you find some more books for me to check?"  
"Yes M'Lady." he fawned, then walked to the closest, unchecked chest and removed several manuscripts for her to view.

She sighed thinking her unladylike manner noticed, he grumbled wondering what she had heard.

.-. .- ..- ... .

He had just finished cooking his breakfast, and was beginning to plate it, when she finally broke the awkward silence.  
"How is it you've come to have a hippogryph?" she asked.  
He told her the story, how the beast was born and lived in the woods on the grounds.  
Then continued the tale with more details, about the Malfoy incident, the escape of Sirius,  
the willing of Buckbeak to Harry and the loyal beasts, return to his care, when Harry couldn't keep him.  
She questioned him more on the subject of the half bird's kind and of Dragons and other beastly creatures,  
listening to his replies, with all her attention and a tiny bit more than just a little affection.

They conversed well passed noon, their interaction returning, to the books and magical texts, he had acquired.  
Some she thought burned or never knew existed , some she had longed, to be able to read.  
He offered to turn the pages for her, she shyly declined, wanting not to add more to his work load,  
but so desperately wanting, for him to ask again soon.

He opened another chest and pulled some more books from it, then laid them out so she could easily check their content.  
They talked a bit more, while she looked for the clue, she knew was hidden in the title, hoping reading it would trigger her recollection.  
He excused himself, from her graciously and went out to the wood to check on his charges.

She perused the books, he had laid out neatly for her, and found herself daydreaming.  
It was then, that she realized, more words had passed between them in that short time,  
than all the combined conversations she'd had since her demise.  
She was amazed at the knowledge he had of these magical animals and the scope that it entailed and  
she was taken by his gentility and honest caring soul.  
She decided it was time to be solitary no more, her faith in men restored in the most unlikely of countenances.

.-. .- ..- ... .

Minerva McGonagall was sorting through last minute details of the schools reopening,  
when a knock came at the headmaster's door.  
"You may enter!" she announced, without lifting her head from her task.  
The huge door opened with a surprising ease as if floating on magnetic hinges.

Luna Lovegood, quietly passed through the entryway, walked to the desk and patiently waited the woman's attention.  
"Luna? My heavens child where have you been?" Minerva said, springing to her feet and hugging the girl very tightly.  
She backed away and put her hands on the younger's upper arms, holding her at a distance as in disbelief.

"Ron magic." she answered, then hugging the woman close to her, continued with a bit of the tale.  
The older wizard, could only smile, at the story unfolding in her ears.

Then Luna told her the full extent of the adventure.

"Sirius is with me" she said, with a straight forward tone, meant to ease the shock of a dead one returned.  
"What?" the older woman shouted, "Where is he?"

"I'm here Minerva" came a voice from the opening to the hall.

The temporary headmaster's knees, almost unfolded from beneath her,  
Sirius was at her side before she could shrink passed her balance.  
They embraced tightly.  
The elder sobbed as tears of joy rolled down her cheeks and lent a youthfulness to her face.

She sat fixated on their words, listening to their progression until they ended up right here, in this room.  
"And all this because the Weasley boy can't aim straight?" she quipped, prompting all three to laughter.

Sirius spoke when the laughter subsided, changing the subject to the other reason for their coming,  
"Minerva, is it true you took the headmasters position only as a temporary position?"

"Yes my boy," she answered, "I've missed teaching, it's my love. Are you asking to take the job yourself?"  
"No." he replied. "but we do know someone who would be perfect."

She listened intently, as the two people she thought lost to the world, told her their idea.  
Although she wasn't convinced of the possibility of what they spoke of, neither was she entirely against it.

Luna stood and walked to the window leaving Sirius to continue their argument.  
She saw Neville and Myrtle in the courtyard dancing under the midday sun.  
"Perfect", she thought.

"Professor," she interrupted, "can you come here for a moment please."  
Minerva walked to her side and looked in the direction the other was pointing and her eyes opened wide at the scene.  
It wasn't the dance, or the characters involved that set her mind.  
It was the kiss.  
The form and shape of the girl she saw was recognizable, she was dressed a bit different  
and though she still retained some sense of translucency in the skin you could see,  
there was a solidness in the touch of her lips to the boy's.  
"Yes." she replied, "if you can do this, Then I will happily announce your nominee as Headmaster  
and go back to the job I love."

The conversation made it's way through the past to the future.  
She filled them in on events from the two years, they had passed by and told them of things still not put right.  
They asked her about the wolfkind, but even she could only find that word in the corner of a memory.  
She hugged the two of them, as they prepared to leave, kissing them both on their foreheads.

 _"Come to Hagrid's tonight, we're having dinner and a scavenger hunt."_  
"I don't know Luna, I'll see if I can get time from this work."  
 _"We have much to discuss and you could use a break, be there just before sunset."  
_ "I guess a little dillydally won't kill me, and you're right, I can use some relaxation."  
 _"Good we'll see you there, don't be late."_

.-. .- ..- ... .

The little group of seven sat around the fire enjoying the last of their meal.  
Minerva was enjoying a pleasant conversation with the once quiet daughter of Ravenclaw.  
Myrtle and Neville were chatting with Sirius and Luna, the former informing the others of the whereabouts,  
of friends long graduated and the last known places others were seen.  
Hagrid was tending to a thestral that had wandered into their company, a thorn stuck just above it's hoof.  
Helena watched him closely admiring the tenderness he was showing to the pained creature.

As the plates were collected, Sirius put a few more logs on the campfire then asked for everyone's attention.  
Luna came to his side and nuzzled under his arm.

"We have a request of you all," he started, "There are still forces out there that think they should enforce their will on others.  
There are those who are trying to continue the darklord's work, and some, well,  
some that just don't need a reason to be assholes. Because of them we would like to keep **Us** a secret."

" _Not the 'we're together' secret, but the fact that we are alive and well at all_ " Luna spoke in her soft almost airy tone,  
" _With the exception of a silly elf, a thestral, a hippogriff and you, our closest friends, we have been, not even words to the world."_

"We are ghosts to life still and that's a weapon we can use."

The others agreed, not just to keep the secret but more importantly that it should be kept, as tough as that may be.

The conversation turned back to other more enjoyable and constructive things and their little group grew even closer for it.  
Minerva agreed that since Myrtle was more corporeal and could manipulate physical objects again and  
the fact that Neville was continuing his teaching, that she should be given a position in the school.  
Considering her love of books, she offered the girl the job of librarians assistant.  
Myrtle accepted gratefully.

Sirius and Luna excused themselves, asking Helena to meet them on the tower a little before the moon was at it's peak.  
The sounds of friendly banter and joy, filled their hearts and ears, as they walked back to the shack,  
to gather the things they would need.

.-. .- ..- ... .

The night air was crisp and clear, as the couple went about setting up the magical focus.  
It was exactly the same as they had done, two nights ago, their first night back at the school.  
When the last candle was set afloat, Sirius turned to see an already nude Luna, enjoying both,  
the view of the moon reflecting on the lake and the coolness of the wind on her skin.

He stripped off his garments, folded and placed them neatly by hers then walked up behind her,  
taking in her shape as if it was the first time seeing her this way.  
She anticipated his approach and leaned back into him, his hands found hers, she folded them both around her like a cloak.  
The two stood content, enjoying a moment of quiet, free from thought, just taking the world before them in.

They turned, after a moment, and made their way, to the center of the blanket, that was hovering inches from the floor,  
faced each other and embraced.  
As their passions rose and a blue haze took shape at their feet, Helena drifted up the stairs.

She was not prepared for the sight of the two lovers, covered in nothing except the moonlight.  
She stopped, embarrassed by the scene before her and turned to float away.

A voice echoed in her head, "Stay Helena Ravenclaw, stay and feel the wind on your face again."  
It was the voice of the girl that tempted her, it calmed her and kept her in place.  
She stopped, nervous at the words and their meaning, yet anxious to see what they foretold.

The two bodies stood together, in the center of that bed of light, and as they started their dance,  
she could feel the passion rise in them and surround her.

"Come closer" the voice said, not as a command but an offer.  
She felt herself being pulled to the two, she hesitated, then realized it was her own self, not pulling but,  
pushing her to be nearer to them, as if something inside her knew what lay ahead.  
And before she could even finish her thought, she was next to them.

They were sitting now, entwined, she astride him, her slender muscular body wrapped around his,  
his arms around her, pulling her onto and into him.  
The two were moving in opposing motions fluidly, in movements so subtle they defied their own intensity and  
hid the design within them.

Helena looked upon them and the act, the rhythm and the scent of them waking a desire she long thought lost.  
Their kiss, a completion of their union, sensually teasing at her core.

She caught a glimpse of her own body, in the eyes of the young woman, and finding it,  
without the gown she had worn every day since her death, covered her self in humility.  
An electricity and heat burned within her as she felt the touch of her own _flesh_ ,  
just a tinge at first but noticeably there and much more noticeably, getting stronger.  
She ran her hands across her stomach, her legs, her breasts, her hair,  
and felt the heat grow where her legs came together at her stomach's end.  
Lost to the desire that raged through her, she gave into her own exploration.

The blue light swirled around them stronger, as a pyramid of light was formed from the candlelight's collaboration.

She was close, very close, when she felt the hands, of the two before her, scrape a gentle vigil up her calf.  
It was too much, a wave exploded from her core with a moan as she fell to her knees beside them.  
They responded in kind to her climax, and with their own passionate release, spent their sex,  
through each other and into the night and around them.

The flame raged, flickered red, then white, flashed green and blue again, then slowly dimmed.  
It ebbed with the slowing of their pulse and faded.  
The candles regained their fires and returned, to flickering, against the battlements stone..

A calm fell upon them all as the energies subsided.  
Luna put her head to Sirius's shoulder and laughter filled them again.

Helena looked at them with wide eyes and a mind filled with many questions, questions she couldn't yet ask,  
her body still trembling from the rush, her mind awash in the _feeling_.

A gasp and a voice broke the stillness."  
I have a sister?" asked Myrtle innocently enough.  
She had crested the stairs after seeing the glow and could see Helena changed,  
just as she had those two nights before.

"In a sense," Luna told her, the smile of passions released, still filling her eyes.  
"You'll have to teach her what you've learned if you will." she instructed the younger semiform.  
"My pleasure." was her reply.

Sirius and Luna dressed, packed up their things and got ready to leave, as Myrtle was showing her new semiform companion,  
what they could do with their newly acquired gift.

Helena gathered them up in a grateful hug, and thanked them for her new found freedom, for she could write and draw,  
learn and teach and read with out the aid of others and ... magic, oh yes, she could hold a wand again.

They left as Myrtle took Helena to the battlement and told her all that she had learned about this new situation.  
She taught her how to shift from this new semi-solid state into the whisps they were before.

Helena practiced what she had been told and finding Myrtle to be an excellent instructor, easily shifted to whisp then back.  
She delighted in feeling the floor beneath her feet again.  
"I'm going to stay like this forever." she said.

"Take your time," Myrtle warned her, "walls are harder to forget than you think.", she continued while rubbing her head in mock injury.  
Myrtle shared more with her, the most important of which was how to "cloak" herself when in whisp form.  
Warning her that shifting from semiform to whisp will leave her naked,  
"unless you put the idea of what to wear in your head, before you make the transformation".  
"It's fun when I do it in front of Neville though" she teased, "I whispshift and my clothes hit the floor."

The two giggled loudly, and continued to bond as they tried on different looks to their own misty forms.

"You don't wear shoes." the Ravenclaw descendant asked.  
"No way, I love the feel of the solid beneath me." Myrtle replied.  
Helena agreed, took her new found friend's hand and declared, "Then, the barefoot sisters, we will be."  
Then the two, once very solitary beings, drifted from the tower and went for a walk in the marsh,  
just to feel the squish of it's mud on their toes.

.-. .- ..- ... .

It was late in the night when Hagrid was awakened by a light knocking at his front door.  
He fought the desire, to stay a slumber, and enjoy the dream that kept him half awake.  
He rose from the chair, he had fallen asleep in for the second of two very long nights,  
stretched and begrudgingly, opened the door to his nocturnal visitor.

He was greeted by the lovely face of the Lady Ravenclaw.  
Her smile, broad and bright, chased away any displeasure he felt at having been taken from the story  
that had been playing in his mind.  
For this was the face he saw, just before his eyes opened.

There she stood, the Grey Lady no more, dressed in a skirt that fell just below her knee and a blouse of light blue satin  
that shimmered in the light of the stars.  
She took his hand, emboldened by the return of a sense long gone, her fingers barely wrapping around even one of his.  
She leaned into him and stroked his cheek, and gently tugged at the thick fur that adorned it.  
He lowered his head unconsciously following her unspoken request.  
She threw her arm around his neck and kissed him, aching to fill the void created millennia ago and made deeper  
from centuries of an almost solitary existence.  
It was a gentle, but not so innocent kiss.  
The energy released from in her an hour before, was returning, strong and alive.  
She shut the door behind him and led him to his bed.

.-. .- ..- ... .

"I wonder what else this magic can do."  
 _"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll have fun finding out."_

 _. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-._


	6. New Year, New Era

_VI_

* * *

 **New Year, New Era**

* * *

It was hours before sunrise and the air was thick with the quiet that comes between,  
when the nocturnal retreat to their lairs and the diurnal start to fidget in theirs.  
The knock on the door to the shrieking shack was soft but exuberant.  
"Sirius! Luna! We found something!'' a voice exclaimed, hushed but full of excitement...

.-. .- ..- ... .

Professor Neville Longbottom and Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, were searching through the schools main library for a hint of a clue,  
to a question their friends needed answered.  
The semiform was playfully uncloaked, telling the other it was too much bother,  
to "switch and dress, switch and cloak, switch and dress, switch and cloak",  
as she adjusted her solidness to move the tomes, then back to whisp, to float to the higher shelves and read the titles.  
The truth of the matter was, that she just liked the way his eyes felt and his cheeks flushed,  
when he looked upon her 'delightful curves'.

They worked diligently, for the most part, but some instances of folly,  
swept them up to playfully explore, their newly requited love.  
This was precisely one of those times.  
Myrtle was coyly leaning, back to the wall, feet far enough in front of her, to hold her lover at a teasing length.  
Neville's arms were stretched out at the sides of her head, to balance himself and lean in for a kiss.

The sound of footsteps and other activity, startled the young couple and Myrtle shifted to whisp and half dissolved into the wall.  
The feeling of gravity had not left her mind, and she fell, in the memory of it's pull.  
Her feet were still noticeable for a second, before they disappeared, through the stone she had passed into.

Neville picked up her wand, gathered her clothes quickly and stuffed them into  
the brown and black leather satchel with a scarlet and gold crest, that held his texts,  
quills and other tools of his profession.

On the other side of the stone, Myrtle's eyes were adjusting, to the very dim glow coming from the rooms ceiling.  
"Lumos" she spoke, forgetting her wand was on the other side of the wall.  
The light from above brightened nonetheless.  
The candelabra illuminated the smallish, but intricately designed room in it's fervent glow.  
She shifted back to semiform, the smell of papyrus and paper started filling her nose,  
just as the light revealed the rooms true purpose.

Books, ancient scrolls, and massive tomes were neatly arranged on shelves of oak and displays, of a wood she did not recognize.  
The walls were covered in a light colored wood that had a pearly glaze in it's grain.  
There was cherry colored trim that broke the walls into long rectangles that ran from floor to ceiling.  
The ceiling was the same pearly wood with a dome shape that enhanced the light to the tiniest nook.

She whisped and cloaked, slipped through the wall, back to the main library and listened for her lovers voice.  
"Good night, Neville"she heard the interrupter say, and followed the sound, to the still flustered man's side.  
"Neville" she squealed, "I found more books, old books, _very_ old books."

The two spent an hour or two trying to gain him access, but couldn't find a spell to even locate it.  
They finally surrendered to the futility of that endeavor, deciding to let Myrtle browse it's contents instead.

She passed through the barrier with ease and crossed to the farthest shelf muttering,  
"Wolfkind" under her breath repeatedly, as if saying it so, would bring her eyes to bear or  
cause a book to resign to her it's location.  
A book on a stand, just to her left, opened itself with determination, it's pages being flipped by the air itself .  
"That's convenient," she said out loud, quite humorously.  
She walked to the tall wooden stand and looked upon the page it displayed.  
She whisped and cloaked, then rushed through the wall with such excitement, that she forgot to semiform,  
before giving her tall companion a victory hug and she passed right through him, completely.

The electricity that passed through them both, left them floored, stimulated, and just a little bit giddy.  
She tried relating her findings to him as they stared, blank faced, at the ceiling above them,  
they had found a reference and finally had a clue to help their search.

They decided, as she got dressed, to inform the headmaster of their findings and so, they made their way to her office.  
The light under the door, swaying to the motion of a flame, eased their fears of waking a sleeping occupant.  
A knock knock knock lightly on the door alerted the woman inside of their presence.

She answered the door without any hint of annoyance and invited the noticeably enlivened duo into her study.  
She listened intently as they related their experience, leaving out the part about _why_ she had fallen through to the room.  
She sat in quiet contemplation, after the tales end, thinking of the room as much as the book.

''I've heard of such a room" she said, "I thought it just a fable designed to delight the overly curious with a frustrating and futile quest.  
An _in between_ room" she continued, "one not here, nor there, but both, which is probably why you could find it Miss Warren'' she exclaimed,  
"Go, tell Sirius and Luna what you've found, but remember to be at the great hall at 9.  
And Ms Warren we may have a new position for you to fill."

.-. .- ..- ... .

... The door to the shack opened and the warm sleepy face of Luna Lovegood, greeted her friends with a smile.  
"Come in you two'' she said dreamily, then noticing the tall man's fidgeting gaze, added apologetically,  
"give me a sec to get dressed. Sirius is still half adream."

"Don't go to any trouble just yet" Myrtle replied, "we'll be quick."  
Neville, averting his eyes to the floor, simply stated, "We just came to tell you we have found a clue about the Wolf Kind,"  
making sure to pronounce it as two separate words.

Luna climbed back under the covers of the four post bed,  
who's elegance contrasted greatly with the utility shack's generally dilapidated state and scratched walls.  
Sirius now fully awake, unconsciously shifted his body, so she could be more comfortable as she nestled up to him.

The visitors told their tale quickly, Myrtle this time relating the _why_ in an effort to make poor Neville blush.  
He did.

"We have to be at assembly soon", Neville told them, " but we'll stop off at Helena's to give her the news."  
"She'll be at Hagrid's." Sirius said coyly.  
Luna gently nudged his ribs, "She's been scouring through his collection for days." she diverted.  
"Is that what she calls it?" Myrtle replied a sly little grin crossing her face.  
They shut the door behind them and headed back in the direction they had come.

.-. .- ..- ... .

The Assembly of Teachers was being held in the Great Hall.  
There were just enough candles floating above, to assist the light of the enchanted sun  
that made it's way across the ceiling.  
The teachers had finished with their catching ups and introductions and were settled in their seats comfortably.  
Headmaster McGonagall welcomed them back and expressed her hopes for the new school year.

Her tone became a little more official, she cleared her throat and reported the business at hand.  
"I have announcements and placements" she orated,  
"Firstly I'd like to introduce, Director Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, as Keeper Of Lost Books and Tomes."  
Myrtle stood and the assembly greeted her with a warm and pleasant applause, even though they didn't  
quite understand what the titled actually implied.

After the welcome subsided, the school's master continued,  
"We will now be having classes in Bestiary Arts and Sciences, Professor Rubeus Hagrid will be holding these classes,  
for any student who wishes to help expand the knowledge of the beasts we know and find and identify those still unknown."  
Again a genuine applause shook the hall, as well wishes were spoken in the humble half giants direction.

"And lastly,"  
The elder woman spoke, with a voice suddenly lighter,  
"I will be stepping down as Headmaster, to resume my duties as a Teacher."  
She did not waiting for the hushed mumbles to fade and continued with a louder even happier tone,

'' I would like to introduce, Lady Helena Ravenclaw, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

The once sullen, solitary and almost arrogant woman was met with a rousing, ovation.  
The applause of acceptance resounding through the great hall long after she stepped to the podium.

She was greeted by the warm grandmotherly hug of, the now beaming, Professor Minerva McGonagall,  
and used the duration of the celebration to settle her emotions and catch her voice.  
She expressed her thanks, with words, choked in heartfelt gratitude, to the men and the women,  
she had been alongside but hardly known, since her death brought her to haunt this castle's grounds.

She spoke of the night she stood on the battlements and watched the heroic efforts of those that now sat before her.  
How, the sight of their bravery, their fierceness, their loyalty and compassion stirred in her a desire to **_be_ ** once again.

She closed her speech with a promise, vowing to them, as witnesses,  
"I, Helena Alexandra Ravenclaw, will strive to project and embrace all the virtues I have witnessed in you.  
I offer and hope you all will accept my friendship and trust."  
Her tone turned to one even more humble,  
as she tried but failed to hide the tears of elation that formed, at the corner of her eyes, once more,  
"and I hope you will help me, with your guidance and wisdom,  
succeed in making this wonderful institution great and whole once again."

She stepped from the dais and walked to them as they cheered and gathered around her,  
with handshakes, hugs and words of encouragement and good fortune.  
Everyone of them curious as to how she and the other barefoot ghost, had acquired the ability to touch.

.-. .- ..- ... .

It was half past eleven when the assembly disbanded.  
Sirius was sitting on the cool grass just inside the edge of the dark forest,  
watching his blonde companion return from her ride through the dense wood atop a galloping centaur.  
Her hair, now long, just above mid back, flowing behind her, aglow in the sunlight that beamed through the trees.

Bellaster lowered his chest to the ground to allow the willowy girl to dismount easier,  
she hugged him dearly, thanking him for an exhilarating diversion of time.  
The three chatted of rumors and murmurs of dark practices and forbidden arts.  
The chieftain of centaurs noticed a small group approaching and informed the others, their wait was over.  
After insuring the two humans that they could trust in his secrecy, he departed into the thick green of the woods.  
"Stay well my friends," he called back, "If you run into Delores tell her she's always welcome in our circle for...Dinner."

Helena, Hagrid, Myrtle and Neville, where met at the cabin door, by the two who returned.  
The group of friends entered the surprisingly reorganized dwelling and began anew their quest,  
helped along now by the knowledge that Myrtle and Neville had uncovered by chance.

It was Helena who found the tome, from the authors name given to her by her semiform sister,  
a name the latter had been shown by that book in the In Between library.

She recalled it on the cover of a plain brown book, one she had already perused, in Hagrid's extensive assortment.  
"Here it is, L. A Mental" she said, "Now what was the clue?"

"Upside down and right and again the truth to be revealed." Myrtle replied.

Helena flipped the book so the back cover was up and the spine to her left,  
once clockwise,  
twice clockwise,  
and a light golden spark etched it's way across the front cover of the now back to front book.

" **How To Clean a Nargle**. _A guide for the care of mischievous critters,_ ",  
it revealed on the leathery brown skin that enclosed the leaves within.

"Ooh I could use that." Luna announced, prompting a laugh from those around her.

They opened the book and it unraveled, a scroll of moderate length, uncurled from it's pages and  
offered them words of the Wolf Kind.  
The six of them stood side by side digesting the knowledge it imparted.

* * *

Complexities of Speciel Cross References ... Chapter 21

Wolf Kind

Wolf Kind: _Lupus Hominum Raris_

"The Wolf Kind is a very special breed of magical beast, for not only does it have the uncanny ability  
to retain it's magus's full mental capacity and morality, but it also has the amazing healing quality, in it's bloods essence,  
to transform were-creatures by removing the effects of the lunar cycle in regards to the forced,  
uncontrollable and involuntary change that effects them.  
Those, infected by were-virus, when infused by the essence of a Wolf Kind, by either medical injection or bite,  
become Wolf Kind, transforming of their own will, or not, as they choose. Some have lived never transforming again,  
choosing to stay in the shape they were born. This seems especially true for non-magical beings bitten in an attack.

The Wolf Kinds appearance can vary among Animagus as their personal form dictates, with the exception of being a bit larger.  
However, Animagus of Canine origin appear to almost always become more Lupine.

A true Wolf Kind is distinguished by it's solid color with a lone marking of contrasting hue,  
usually located but not limited to it's flanks, neck, or head.  
They are very rare and very little knowledge can be found of their origin, as information of them is rarer still.  
It is surmised, by some scholars, that the forces of nature herself can manifest this change,  
as a response to the overabundance of were-kind, or an increase in the cancerous variation of magic,  
but this theory can not be proven or negated by known scientific means.

 _Prof. Lem Latan, POB, Scholastic Council of Extraordinary Sciences, 11th day of the month of September in the year 972  
_

* * *

"Sirius?" Luna implored, "Have you tried to change since you woke in our cabin?"  
"No," he responded, "I've had no reason too."

The small group followed the man outside and down to the forest edge.  
Sirius summoned his other form and changed.  
He could feel the differences immediately.  
This form seemed stronger and taller and his mind seemed to be completely unhindered,  
without even the tiniest numbness he was used too.  
Even his senses seemed slightly enhanced, he noted as he sniffed the air.

Those who had seen this form of him before, saw those changes too.

He was black as the night sky with the same hint of blue, a lot taller at the shoulders,  
which were wider and fuller than the old black dog once was.  
His head definedly more wolfish, with a silvery grey triangle from ear to ear that tapered to the base of his nose.

"THAT, is not Padfoot," Hagrid exclaimed, "gonna need a new name fer that one."  
Luna approached the lupine figure and snuggled him around the neck as he gently nudged his head against her,  
"Cuddlebrow," she said in his soft furry ear, the others chuckled, but a lick of her cheek,  
told them all, that she had just named him.

Minerva McGonagall found the group still examining this creature's new physiology in both wonder and scientific curiosity.  
She approached them, almost out of breath, with a look of immediacy in her eyes.  
She was taken aback at the sight of the beast before her, wondering were it had come from.  
"No need ta fret miss'' Hagrid consoled "is merely Mister Black's new form."

She was relieved at this knowledge but puzzled just the same and, while still on the broom she had raced to them on,  
said, with a puzzling tone, "But it's impossible for a magus to change it's spot's." questioning those words as she spoke them.

She shook her head to the questions she wanted to ask, remembering the reason she had hurried to them,  
"I have news of Remus, he may still be alive again, and he's been, almost certainly, kidnapped."

Sirius quickly shifted back, for even though there were still questions unanswered, this development required their full attention,  
"Again?" he questioned, "I'll explain later." replied Luna.

They went purposely back to Hagrid's cabin, to hear all the news she heard rumored about.  
"Remus Lupin was last seen in a valley outside a small town in the Italian Alps."  
"Ziano di Fiemme?" Luna asked, before the other could complete her statement.  
"Yes", Minerva replied.

"But that was two years ago." Luna spoke, half in thought, "That was where the battle was, the day **we** shot forward to now,  
It was Ron and Remus and Friar Laterno, who where with me, we were looking for taken children,  
when the tormentors and those others attacked us." she recalled,  
"Me and Ron were taking on the last tormentor, Remus and Friar where facing down  
the last of the gang of wizards and witches, that's the last I know. I blasted the last tormentor,  
Ron threw up his shield in it's path, and the pretty whirlpool took me and you know the rest."

"Tormentor? Don't you mean Dementor?" Helena asked.  
"No they're something different, something more intelligent, something, _Invoked_." she punctuated the last word to imply,  
that they were controlled, but nonetheless dangerous.  
It had the desired effect.

"We need to go home." Luna said.  
Sirius looked to his half giant of a friend, "We'll need a few owls Hagrid, would that be possible?"  
"Yes, I'll ave em at the shack soon." he replied.  
"Just bring us one, send a couple out to see if they can gather any more information from anyone we know in the area."

The room was energized as the small group, discussed how to find and rescue their taken friend.  
When the discussion was done, Sirius and Luna stood to go pack, they hugged their friends and wished them well.

Luna stopped on the porch and looked to the stars, there were seven of them fighting to be seen in the twi-night glow.  
She looked at the band of people behind her and in a lilting voice, the kind she gets some times, said just two words,  
"Seven Scions."  
The group took stock in there number, it was Sirius whose voice spoke next, ''better than the Marauders.",  
and with smiles and laughs, they all agreed, and a new family of friends was born.

As they approached the shack Luna stopped.  
Sirius turned and looked into her eyes and just said "Yes."  
He knew that whatever she asked he would do, she knew it too, as it was the same with her.  
 _"Will you teach me to transform?"_  
"We can start tonight while we wait for Hagrid." he replied.  
"Later." she said as she removed her sweater and skipped to the temporary shelter, hidden on the edge between Hogwarts and town.  
He watched as her hips swayed with each step, as she stopped at the door, and then removed her pants.  
They never quite made it inside.

.-. .- ..- ... .

Hagrid broke the treeline and approached the cabin with a hurried step.  
A glow ahead of him had triggered his danger response and he ran to see the trouble,  
The ground shook and rumbled under his massive stride.

He heard the laughter before he saw them, then stopped and excused himself.  
"Sorry, shouldn't 'ave seen that.", he said.  
"Our fault Hagry,"she replied, "sometimes we forget the world."

Sirius went and grabbed the girl a blanket and wrapped her up in it, grabbed his pants and put them on,  
then told his friend it was okay to turn around.  
Hagrid turned slowly, opened one eye to peak and seeing them covered, opened the other.  
"I brought you a very fine bird I did." he said, "this is Thordor, e'll carry yer word back here quick."

He stayed with them while they packed and listened while Luna explained Minerva's statement about Remus's revival,  
having only heard part of it himself.

 _"A lot of people saw him get hit with a blast and fall into the rubble."_  
"Aye, I were one of em."  
 _"When they looked for his body they found his wife's but not his and everyone thought he had been hit by an Ava."  
"Friar Laterno was visiting his cousin at a Monastic Hostel, when he was told of a man with no memory,  
who had come to them a year earlier. A man with a particular disorder beyond amnesia"  
_"This monk was traveling from hostel to hostel?"  
 _"No, silly, he's a wizard, Friar is his actual name."  
"Anyway, Friar found him tending the garden and felt the magic in him, it took two months before he remembered his name.  
another three weeks before his mind was complete again."  
_"Where's Teddy?"  
"He be with 'arry, and Ginny, him bein' 'is god father and all."  
 _"Everybody thought it was for the best, it gave Moony the chance to repay Friar, by helping him help muggles,  
being harmed by magicals, __and it gave Teddy a stable life."  
_ "It's a good thing Nymph isn't alive, she'd kill him herself for dying on her twice."

They had a quick snack, Hagrid helped them pack and walked with them back to the dark forest, from where they would depart.  
They walked through the wood, to the thestral's lair and found Twilight among the herd.  
"Well now ere's a right smart lookin beast" Hagrid said.

The blue creature walked to his two friends and greeted them fondly.  
"Twilight, Hagrid, Hagrid, Twilight.'" Luna said casually introducing the two.  
Twilight broke his forelegs and lowered his chest to the ground, Hagrid bowed back to the creature with flourish.  
"A right regal beasty too." he amused.

"I'll be back in a second." Sirius said, then walked a bit deeper down the path.  
Buckbeak, was in a little clearing, not far from where the thestrals were camped.  
Sirius approached his friend and only when the beast saw him coming, did he transform.  
The hippogriff was at first quite puzzled but upon sniffing the familiar scent of his friend he relaxed and moved closer to greet him.  
Sirius changed back to his human shape, to tell his friend, that he'd return very soon and ask the half bird, to be ready,  
in case he needed his services.  
Buckbeak butted him in the chest with his head, acknowledging his understanding.  
Sirius grasped his feathery friend just behind both sides of his beak and thanked him,  
then he returned to the circle, where he had left the others just moments ago.

The two companions, said their good byes to the other and were smothered in the man-bear's hug.  
They climbed aboard Twilight and with a swoop of his wing were headed to the valley they called home.  
"Safe j'urney you two," Hagrid said as if calling a spell of protection upon them, "urry back soon.''

 _"I hope Lupin is okay."_  
"He's a tough old goat, he'll manage."

. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-.


	7. Breathe, Focus, Feel

_VII_

* * *

 **Breath Focus Feel**

* * *

The valley was warm, in the midday sun, the tall grass moved like waves on the breeze.  
The trees rustled with life, not just their own but also the birds and other critters that  
made them their home. A determined elf was ignoring the stings of the bees whose home  
he was trying to put back on the branch it fell from.  
And two naked wizards were standing on the edge of a stream, going through a lesson in transformation

"Once again, Love?"  
 _"Yes, please._ "

"Okay. Close your eyes. Relax and when you feel you're ready you're going to breathe in slowly,  
quiet your mind and sense the energy around you flowing into you,  
not just through your nose but through your whole body,  
center your focus on the center of your body just below your rib cage,  
let the energy there grow, then exhale slowly, breathing only the air out,  
feel that wild energy, you breathed in with it, flow through your veins and synapses,  
as your muscles and bones reshape. Give in to it, and when you sense a different rhythm to your heart open your eyes.  
Remember, if the pains too much, stop, you're either forcing it or letting your fear take over.  
Good luck, Little One." he said, as he bent and kissed her forehead for luck.

Luna repeated his words in her mind then inhaled slowly, feeling the air and life force flow into her from every direction.  
She focused and channeled it to a spot just below her diaphragm and felt it fill her.  
She let it sit there and grow for a bit, she could see in her mind the light swirling, electric sparks and arcs feathering themselves outward,  
then slowly she let the air out of her lungs,  
compelling the energy she had stored to flow through her.  
It traveled up and down her spine with intensity, radiating through to her finger tips, toes and the top of her head.

Sirius watched as her muscles grew and the lean willowy body of the woman before him started to change it's shape,  
more gracefully and determined, than any of the other first attempts he had ever witnessed.  
Her arms stretching towards the ground, her back lengthening with rhythmic pulses, her shoulders and hips, elongating  
and pulling themselves as if to touch the earth itself.

Luna felt the changing and gave into it completely, trusting in the lessons her lover had imparted to her.  
She felt her skin start to warm and a wild primal tempo rush flow through her, the beating of her heart,  
changed it's tempo echoing the cadence in her blood.  
She opened her eyes and stretched embracing the vision of her newly found paws with glee.

The dark haired wizard stood awestruck at the majesty of the cat that stood before him,  
a pure white leopard with _her_ ice grey eyes and muscles that rippled through it's pristine silky fur.  
Her patronus was a rabbit, that's usually the shape the animagus takes, but this girl is a contradiction  
in so many ways, that it did not surprise him that she'd have this form inside her.  
She was spacey but brilliant, shy but fierce and though she looked frail she was steel and stone and  
by far. one of the strongest people he had ever met.  
No need to mention her loyalty and heart.  
He approached her and knelt before her, taking her face in his hands.  
She licked him nose playfully with her raspy tongue as she pushed her head further into his fingertips,  
he could feel her purrs rolling through them.

He repeated the ritual as she just had, calling up his own new found form and transformed.  
The pure black canine with the silver brow approached the feline with his tail wagging.

The two beasts, circled each other, sniffing and rubbing their bodies against each other, taking in each other's essence.  
The big black wolf, reared back on it's hind legs and howled, then bounded across the stream, tempting a chase.

He had barely made the forests edge, when the sleek white cat was upon him.

They rolled and tumbled through the grass, wrestling and biting each other playfully.  
The black beast turned and burst forth to the cabin, the big white cat flew past him,  
the hairs on her tail flowing, like a tendril of steam on a brook in a light summer breeze in the first suns rays of the morning.

She stopped before the porch of the cabin, arched her back and stretched her long lean body to the sunlight,  
her paws out in front of her, her chest barely touching the ground, her tail swaying sensually high and proud behind her.  
The wolf was at her side, quick enough and reshaped to the man that abided within it.  
She sleeked herself around him, as he knelt beside her, nuzzling her face to his, purring contentedly.

"Snowmist" he whispered in her perked feline ear.

The lustrous feline purred and pounced pinning him to the floor with her paws,  
then shifted back to the woman who had just summoned it to life.

 _"That was incredible"_  
"I've never seen anyone take to it like that," he said, "even I took several attempts"  
 _"I had a good teacher"_ she replied, as she softly placed kisses all over his face with tiny little pecks and giggles.  
She reached behind her, grabbing his warm flesh, to tease it to life, only to find he was already there.  
The rush of the chase and and the lingering of her pheromones already had the desired effect.  
She slid him to her slowly, taking him in salaciously as she kissed his face, chin and neck.  
With a purr and a growl the two chased their bliss.

.-. .- ..- ... .

Hogwarts Owlry was astir with activity.  
As the heart of the schools correspondence and information center, it garnered more than it's fair share of a workload.  
Letters from home, packages for students and a myriad of other correspondences were routed through it.  
Hagrid huffed in frustration, of all the messages coming and going so far none were delivering word on a friend.  
All but one of the owls, that had been sent out with letters of inquiry for any information on one Remus Lupin,  
had returned, once again with no helpful response.  
There were some that sent their condolences, some with wishes that he be found alive and well,  
and others that just replied, no.

.-. .- ..- ... .

Helena Ravenclaw was having much the same luck.  
Her families old connections had come up dry, save for the fact, that he seemed to disappear just over two years ago.  
It was beginning to feel to her like every stone turned just revealed more stones beneath.

"It's been a week" she frustratingly mumbled to her self,  
"just how hard can it be to find a lost wizard, especially one plagued by lycanthropy."

"That's it!", she yelled.

She sprang from her chair and whisp cloaked, and floated feverishly to the office of Minerva McGonagall.  
 _"Minnie!", she called._  
"Over here Miss Ravenclaw", came a reply, from the person half inside a wardrobe.  
 _"I have an idea!"_

.-. .- ..- ... .

Luna was staring up at a nesting pair of doves, cooing softly to each other in the midday calm.  
She was still wrapped in her lovers arms not thinking of much when the thought crept into her head,  
"We need to find Ron or Friar, if they live."  
It was typical of her, "You want to find an answer forget the question." she once told the Potter boy.  
Sirius stood and walked into the cabin, returning with paper and quill and handed it to the prostrate girl,  
"We'll just send a letter off to Hogwarts and see what they know."

She wrote three words on the parchment, "Need Ron's Location.",  
no signature needed, this bird could only come from one place.  
She handed him the note, and he kissed her on the forehead, then went to the owls rest.

He rolled up the paper and slipped it in Thordor's talons, the big brown bird left with it's cargo,  
with a hoot and a whoomp of air off it's wings.

They took a dip in the lake, then set up a picnic blanket by the stream under the shade of the great oak.  
Three pillows were placed just on the edge, a plate and a cup before each, with one bigger plate in the center,  
a good portion of fruits, fish, and a single serving of plumb bread upon it,  
a pot steaming with hibiscus tea, placed to it's left completed the menu.

"Wizzen," Luna sang, "food".  
"Wizzen coming" a voice came, falling upon them from the tree tops.  
The surprisingly spry elf bounced from limb to limb, landed on the ground a short distance from the supper and  
greeted the two with a bow, "Miss Luna, Mister Sirius,"  
They returned his bow and greeting, then the three friends sat down and began to eat.  
They enjoyed the elf's company, as he enjoyed theirs, having seen the scars on both of their bodies,  
a trait he shared on his own, he felt a kinship with them, that brought in him a special bond.

They chatted about nonsense and listened to his discoveries of places and things in their surrounds,  
the tiny little cove on the western wall that offered him a nice comfy rest,  
the tree on the eastern edge that bore fruit that tasted like turnips,  
and the myriad of creatures the valley gave life to.

He sat fixed on the stories they told him of their friend's adventures,  
of the Potter, the Granger, and the Weasley and of the other wizards and witches they knew.  
He hid his head at the exploits of Voldemort and Deatheaters, like a child at camp listening to ghost stories  
on a campfire night.

They never spoke of their own past adventures, instead, they included him in their now.  
"Wizzen knows you will find Mister Lupin." he told them, after hearing the story of the wizards disappearance,  
"Wizzen feels it from the trees and the stream."

.-. .- ..- ... .

Hagrid was finishing a class on the birthing and care of Griffins when he saw the wings of Thordor pass over the forest.  
He hurried himself to the owlry and retrieved the noble birds package.

He read the note and went to the castle and found Helena in her study and together they went to see Professors McGonagall.  
She read the message and sighed, knowing the one they requested, would be no help to them at this time, if ever.  
"Mister Weasley, I'm sorry to say, is in no condition to assist us, I'm afraid," collecting her thoughts she continued,  
"He left home some time ago, troubled in his mind, and struggling with something, he thinks, he was responsible for.  
Hermione herself doesn't know what it is. She says he left her because he was afraid he'd hurt her too.  
She knows he still checks up on her sometimes because she sees a figure hiding in the hedgerow or passing by her window now and then.  
She's tried to track him but she has not yet succeeded."

The two women then told Hagrid their plan and constructed a message to reply to the senders of the one they'd just received.  
Three quarters of an hour after the message was received Thordor was taking to the wind.

.-. .- ..- ... .

The great brown owl landed on the porch early in the morning, hooting his arrival to the recipients of the letter he carried.  
Sirius and Luna stopped their shower short, and went to retrieve their mail, leaving glistening footprints through the cabin and  
onto the porch.

"Ron unfit, plan in place, three days needed."

 _"Another fellow to make fettle."_  
"We keep getting busier by the minute."

. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-.


	8. Chasing A Bark In The Night

_VIII_

 **Chasing A Bark In The Night**

* * *

The drone of voices and echoed hurried footsteps permeated through the corridors and picture lined stairwells.  
Dinner time at the school was as you'd expect from an institution this size, noisy.  
The Great Hall was alive with the sounds of utensils touching plates, cups clinking on the tables hard surface,  
and the chatter of students trading stories, jokes and answers to questions of things they just learned.

Headmaster Ravenclaw was seated at the long honey colored table as the teachers around her ate.  
When they were nearly finished she excused herself from her table companions,  
and walked over to pass behind Minerva MacDonagal and whisper in her ear,  
then proceeded to the row of tables where Neville and Myrtle were seated, eating and chatting with fellow teachers.  
"Miss Warren, Mister Longbottom, when you are finished eating may I see you in my office please."  
she said with an air of efficiency.  
"Yes Ma'am" the two responded in much the same tone but with a touch of nervous curiosity.  
They waited until the headmaster vanished beyond the doors,  
then looked at each other with confused expressions and followed her.

She was still at the door, Minerva by her side, when they came down the hallway leading to her office.  
"You could have finished your dinner," Helena said.  
"It's okay Ma'am," Myrtle replied, "We figured it was important."  
"It is" she said "very, but not so much you needed to rush or sound so officious."  
"We thought we were in trouble, but couldn't for the life of us think what we did wrong."  
"That was not my intended desire," she retorted, "It's just that we have an idea and could use your help to concoct a plan."

Myrtle and Neville were even more curious now than before.  
"We need to find someway of tracking all incidents of were-wolf or magical beast reports in the non-magical parts of the world.  
We've come to a complete dead end in our own community, and this is the better option of the two we have."  
"What's option two?" Neville asked.  
"Ron Weasley." Minerva answered.  
"But Ron's a bloody mess."  
"That's why we think this is the only option we really have." the headmaster said  
"It might not be an easy option." Neville said agreeing with their assessment with a nod.  
He thought about their situation for a time, the others letting him sort it out.  
There was a few minutes of silence, then Myrtle stirred in her chair and faced him, "What about your friend Dan?"

"That's a great idea, I love you" he said.  
A spontaneous kiss was planted firmly on his lips.

"Sorry!" Myrtle said to the two older women.  
"Ahh young love," they replied, with a little hint of a grin across both their faces.

After the blood retreated from his cheeks, Neville explained that his friend, Dan Wirefree,  
was a coder who worked for Scotland Yard's, Cyber Crimes and Terrorism Division, undercover as a black hat.  
If they could find him, and Neville thought he could, he would help, especially if they told him the story.  
"Does he know about magic?" Minerva asked.  
"Oh yes, his sister is in year two here now," he answered, "I'll go see if she knows where he is."  
 _"What's her name?"_ Helena asked while browsing through the roll call scroll.  
"Izzy, err, Isabelle Wirefree."  
 _"She has no classes until Hagrids sometime around eight."  
_ "She's either in the library or Hufflepuff common, I'll find her, and if we can go we'll go tonight." _  
"Good luck you two be safe."  
_ "thank you ma'am."

.-. .- ..- ... .

Sirius Black and Luna Lovegood had a repetition to their days. One that keep them content and energized.  
When the day was still dark they'd wake up, shower and breakfast, then go to the stream and watch the sunrise.  
The rest of their mornings were spent doing, what some would consider, mundane chores,  
mostly in quiet but each one always enjoyably aware of the other.  
They chopped wood, fixed the cabin, replenished their food stock, tended to the garden,  
ate lunch and idled some time away doing crafts when they could.  
When the sun was high they'd transform into their animal forms and hone their tracking skills,  
over the ridge of the mountain that surrounded their valley.  
They occasionally chased each other around playfully and would wrestle whenever one caught the other.  
When the sun was midway from midday to set they'd go back to the cabin and have dinner with Wizzen.  
When the sun was setting they'd go back over the mountain and hunt for turkey or other small game that happened their way,  
both were becoming quite proficient with the bows, they had made themselves.  
When they returned home if they had a good hunt, which was more than not these days,  
they'd dress their kill for the next days supper, saving the feathers or fur for crafts and offering,  
what they would not eat to the forests denizens, then they'd shower and sit by the fire, nestled into each other,  
just a blanket covering them both, this seemed to be the only time they were covered, unless it was the fur of their animal forms.  
When Night Wills* sang their waking song they'd make their way to their bed and experiment with the magic that first came to them there.  
Changing the flames shape and diameter was proving easy, but with the exception of changing ghosts to semiforms  
they hadn't touched on any new use for it.  
Not that that would stop them from trying if you told them that's all they could do.  
They laughed after every glow fade.

.-. .- ..- ... .

Neville and Myrtle found the sprite of a girl, Izzy, in the library, her yellow and black hair announcing her, as the girl at the middle table reading a book.  
"Hello." she greeted them with a big bright smile, lifting her head from a copy of 'How to Train Your Dragon'.  
They chatted about family and quick catching ups, and then told her the story of a lost wizard and a bit of the plan to find him.  
She pulled a locket from inside her blouse, without hesitation, and opened it to reveal two pictures,  
one of her mother and father, the other of her brother Dan.  
She placed it on the desktop, touched it with her wand and with a flick and a swish and a, "Frater locus" the locket glowed.  
A holograph of the world, five feet wide, appeared and spun just above the gold cameo charm,  
zooming in on continent, then country, state then city, then slowly to the very building he was in.  
"Tell him I love him." the little sister commanded as they thanked her and started on their journey to Norway.

.-. .- ..- ... .

It was night and cool when the two landed in a thicket of birch and pines on the eastern shore of a lake called Øvresetertjern.  
The landscape was rocky and sloping with dry dusty trails, leading through the pebble strewn ground.  
A cool breeze drifted across the lake teasing the hairs on Neville's arms to stand.  
Myrtle shifted to her semiform body, and giggled at the goosebumps that immediately woke on her skin,  
she took the clothes her companion removed from his pack and  
dressed while he stored his broom and surveyed the area around them.

It was quiet and dark but they took no chances,  
stealthily making their way north through the trees to an abandoned rail station on the lakes north shore.  
He realized too late they were stuck.

"I'm an idiot. Who do I ask for?" he said, more as a statement of frustration than a question that had an answer,  
"He is undercover I doubt he'd use his real name and I doubt we can walk in not knowing at least one person."

They discussed their dilemma for what seemed like hours, but in reality was just a few minutes.  
"I have an idea." Myrtle said. And before he could ask what it was, her clothes fell to the floor and  
she floated away cloaked in nothing but a light grey mist.

"You beautiful brilliant girl." he half whispered to her as she graced herself away.

She hid in the shadows, with a grin on her face, and wafted or floated from Neville's comment,  
across the short open span, until she was at the wall of the station.  
She placed her face to the wall and leaned in, just enough to peer through it into the room on the other side.  
Seeing the upper level empty she repeated that technique on the floor.  
The room was abuzz with activity, with more of a tavern like atmosphere than that of an internet hack room.  
There was a bar and a dance floor, and several tables, occupied by people engaging in activities not solely techie, smoke from candles,  
and cigarettes rose to the ceiling with tendrils that seemed to have a will of their own.  
She studied the faces of those around, looking for the one she had seen in Izzy's locket.

She saw him in a corner opposite where she was.  
She rose back up, used the top floor as cover and made her way to where she thought he would be below.  
She put her face through the oak flooring and was rewarded with seeing the top of his head through the ceiling fan  
slowly circling above him.

"Don't look up." she said, trying to keep her voice just loud enough for him to hear her.  
He pretended to stretch and looked up anyway and was mildly amused to see a face staring at him through the pine boards.  
"Izzy says she loves you, meet Neville by the boat shed on the east side of the lake."  
He shut the cover of his laptop as a signal he understood.

She drifted her way back to Neville to tell him the news.

"He's going to..." she started to say but her words were cut short by an impetuous kiss,  
one she returned wholeheartedly,  
"...meet us by the boat shed," she finally finished, then threw him on the ground and kissed him again.

Dan, again, was not too surprised to see his friend and his apparition of a companion, his sister was magic,  
so things like this were a semi common occurrence in his life.

He wasn't even shocked when he introduced her as his fiance,  
but she was.

He knew he had slipped, but before he could get half way through telling her that he was planning on asking her that evening,  
she looked in his eyes and said, "YES'.

"But I had this whole romantic," she cut him off before he could finish.  
"This is the most romantic Nevilley way I'd ever want," she exclaimed.

She kissed him passionately and then whispered in his ear, "I couldn't have dreamed a proposal more YOU."  
After a few more kisses and little bit of giggling they regained their composure and finally got down to business and told Dan the plan.

He agreed, "I already have a program that can search police databases for certain keywords,  
I just need to access the Yards terminal and key them in.

"what are we looking for?"

" _Anything to do with werewolf complaints."_

"Why does that not surprise me?"

The three of them thought of as many terms they could to plug in to the programs search string.  
Monsters, werewolf, howls, beast of, noises of unknown origin and scary things too name a few.

Dan told them he'd send a letter to Izzy and they'd have the results when the full moon was over.

"I'll start it tonight and send each nights by the morning, just let her know when I should stop," he told them.  
"Tonight?" they asked curiously.  
"The moon is full over Asia tonight, you do want as much info as I can get don't you."  
"I guess that's why you're in Scotland Yard at such a young age." Myrtle complimented.  
They parted company. Dan gave Neville a congratulatory hug and absentmindedly went to give Myrtle one too,  
he **_was_ ** surprised by the hug he got back.

 _"I'll explain it over a beer."_

"You better my friend, and ll be expecting an invite to the wedding."

.-. .- ..- ... .

Two evenings later, the five Hogwarts teachers, where sitting at Hagrid's table, studying the sheets of information they had been sent.  
It was was the second delivery that had come their way from Dan Wirefree, through his sister Izzy.  
It was dotted in colors, each dot representing the origin of a single call to a police station in the area,  
that filled the parameters of the keywords, they had programmed into the search algorithm.  
There were multiple pages to sort through as the map was broken up into sections about a hundred miles wide for easier perusal.

Minerva McGonagall yelled with excitement, "Here he is."

She was holding up two pages that bordered side by side, then put them down on the table for the others to see what she had uncovered.  
"These are the Alps where Luna said the battle was, and just over to the east and a bit south look,"  
In an spot on the map between two peaks was an area surrounded by hundreds of dots from the the towns in the valleys around it.  
Helena grabbed a paper and quill, "I'll send them the message now."

. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-.

* * *

*Night Wills - a nocturnal cousin of the Whip-Poor-Will, slightly larger with a longer duration to it's song.


	9. Of Cats And Dogs

_IX_

* * *

 **Of Cats And Dogs**

* * *

The trees were just starting to turn in the early fall breeze, some leaves more orange than others, some more yellow.  
A cool breeze made them rustle in the ears of the two wizards walking stealthily beneath them,  
they could make out a distinct difference in the dryness of it's sound than they had heard just days before.  
Sirius and Luna were hunting on the north side of the mountain ridge, that bordered their isolated retreat,  
stalking through the densely forested terrain, choosing a different method to hone their tracking skills,  
than the one their animal forms offered.  
They hunted for turkey and other small game, with the bows they created from wood that the forest around their cabin supplied.  
They were fine looking tools, they shot true and clean and felt very comfortable in their grips almost as if they were an extension of themselves,  
much as their wands had felt the first time they used them.

The bows and Luna's wand, which had a feather strand core from a Phaesian Daenix*,  
were crafted from the limbs of a lemonwood tree that grows on the edge of the lake farthest from their cabin.  
Like many of the things in their magical enclave it too had some distinct differences from it's mundane cousins.  
The layer of wood just under the bark was, not a distinct apple green and yellow but, a dark reddish brown and ebony with fine curling threads of a silvery hue.  
They had crafted them out of fallen limbs that seemed suspiciously offered to them by the tree itself.

Sirius noting that that they weren't there, before they went looking,  
Luna arguing, that maybe they never looked, before they were there.  
They both agreed they could both be right, because in all reality they both could be.

Sirius's wand had a blue thestral tail hair core and was made of the same stock as their arrows which were cut from Norway pine,  
shaped by their hands patiently, each piece seeming to guide their knives, along just the right grain to find it's own true shape.  
That material too, had a slight distinction from the trees of it's relatives,  
the wood was a dark deep brown with lighter zebra like markings in a golden honey brown accent.

This was one of those rare days that there were no animals to be found in the usually active wood,  
so they allowed themselves to get lost in their favorite distraction and found a comfortable place to lay down.  
They placed their bows and quivers on a patch of grass by a bed of moss and quieted themselves to the distractions around them.  
The sounds of the birds and insects, slowly gave way to the stillness in their minds and the passions their bodies offered them.  
It wasn't long before the blue glow came and blanketed them in it's warm pulsing energy, but instead of glowing red and white at the moment of their climax,  
it flashed a steady deep, piercing blue, with fingers that reached out like slow and deliberate lightning.  
They laughed, no less at it's passing though and hardly noticed a subtle change of it's finality.

They were still reveling in the calm, that rushed over them, when they heard a hooting overhead.  
They picked up their weapons and dashed to the cabin in time to see a mail owl touch down, on the post, just off their porch, next to Thordor.  
They opened his cargo and read.

Remus Located

They washed, had a late snack with their odd little elf friend, telling him of their news and of their immanent departure.  
"I will miss my friends, bring back good stories, Wizzen hope you a safe return." he told them, then left them to finish their tasks.

They dressed each other, as was their way, this time slowly almost methodically.  
They both wore loose black leather pants and boots that rose around mid-calf.  
He was topped in a black shirt and thick leather vest with a wolfs head, that Luna had embroidered, on it's right breast.  
She wore a white shirt with pink stitched swirls and rabbits, that Sirius somehow managed to keep secret from her while he was making it,  
and surprise her with two days before.  
A black leather vest, cut from just below her breast to a little below her waist in the back, with shoulder patches that flowed half down her arms  
and a hood of white rabbit fur, completed her travel attire.

They gathered their gear and packed their tripsack, bows and quivers at the top.  
Twilight was outside their cabin waiting patiently before they even thought of summoning him.  
They took to flight with an owl on their wing.

.-. .- ..- ... .

They landed in the thestral lair in the dark forest, a few hours later and made their way to a cabin not far.  
Hagrid was waiting, food and drink at the ready, for his old friends to arrive and greeted them boldly when he saw them.

"Got 'ere awful quick." He said, practically breaking them both in two in his exuberant hug.  
"It's only been a few days my friend" Sirius told his friend in jest.  
"Aye," Hagrid replied, "yer can ne'er be sure of seein yer friends ag'in these days." Luna responded by kissing his cheek.  
"That's right sweet, Missy", was all he could summon as his face turned the shade of beet blood.

It wasn't long until the four remaining members of their little group came walking up the path and after some quick catching ups,  
they entered the cabin, which was less disheveled than they remembered and told the two new arrivals the findings of their search.  
Minerva proceeded, in a very instructive tone,  
"This is Parco Nazionale delle Dolomiti Bellunesi, it's located about a half hour from Ziano di Fiemme,  
where Luna last saw Remus. This map shows all the calls to police, from that area, about strange occurrences reported on the full moon three nights past.  
Notice all the dots circling it."

"I see where you're heading with this, but that's a big area to cover Minnie." Sirius told her.

"I've been there," Helena offered, "when I was alive, it was one of the places I stopped when I ran away from home."

"There is something, that _is something_ , there, isn't there?", Luna said prompting her friend to continue.

"Castello Nella Roccia," she replied, "It's an ancient hide away, one of the first wizard strongholds in Europe, not very big and nobody remembers it exists,  
I only found it when I was taken there by some people that were helping me hide, they had no idea it was anything other than a cave, it's been magically charmed for millennia.  
 _I_ didn't even see passed the spell until the second night, even then it took me fifteen different reveal attempts before I found the right cast after to undo the facade."

"I'm guessing there's more." Sirius said hoping that no was the answer.  
It wasn't.

"Yes," she continued, "If Remus is there, he's probably _not_ very happy. During the second world war, an occult division of the German Army,  
the Schwarze Sonne, had set up an experimental lab in the area, there is a door I couldn't open, formed nearly seamlessly into the rock,  
It's quite possible that one of them found a way in, to the deeper part of the cave."  
"I'm sorry I didn't realize this before Luna, if i had asked you to show me where you were on the map, he'd be here with us by now."

Luna took the Headmasters shoulder in her hands and looking her right in the eyes told her,  
"He'll be here soon because of you Lena, he'll have to be happy for that." then gave her a peck on the nose.

"Ready Cuddles", she said to Sirius. "Ready Snow" he replied before facing the others and continued, "Give us an hour, before you follow, then meet us here,"  
pointing to a spot just outside the cave, "If we're not there then we're already in the heat of it, so come and join the fun."

Luna smiled as she interjected, "Just Follow the breadcrumbs." they smiled, she had a way of lightening the mood even in the darkest of futures.

The other five members wished them well and planned their own part of the journey after the uncommon couple departed.

Sirius and Luna walked to the thestral lair, finding Buckbeak and Twilight side by side, waiting patiently.  
Sirius approached the hippogriff, put his head to his ear and whispered "Thank you my friend."  
Buckbeak raised his head in a swift upward motion.

"He's telling ya to hurry silly." Luna, already on Twilight jibed, the thestral anxiously rearing toward the sky.  
The four of them cleared the trees as their five friends watched from below,  
"Merlin's speed,", Minerva prayed.  
"Merlin's speed." the others echoed.

.-. .- ..- ... .

"Find a good spot to keep hidden and watch", Sirius told Buckbeak, "If we need you I'll... Oh hell! You'll know,".  
The hippogriff expressed his acknowledgement with a sharp short "raap".  
Luna was telling Twilight much the same thing while rubbing behind the blue beasts ears.  
The two winged creatures found places on opposite sides of the hill and disappeared into the landscape.

The cave entrance was much as they had been told, nondescript with an air of danger that grew more intense the nearer they closed  
to the open maw in the rock's face  
"Beast Lair Enchantment. I've heard of this but felt it before", Sirius confided in his partner.  
"It's that nausea you get when dementors are around," she noted.

They entered the mouth, lit their torches and let their eyes and ears adjust.  
Over on their left, just within the torches wavering golden glow, Luna caught sight of something.  
She walked a bit closer and felt the pangs of loss, "Oh no," she said sadly "It's Friar."  
The skeletal remains looked like they had been recently kicked, it had no shoes, but the bright yellow shirt,  
green pants and bone braids in his dreadlocks told her all she needed to know.  
"We'll take him with us when this is done Lu" Sirius told her as console.  
"His family would like that." she said.

They found the rock that Helena had told them about, there was no need to worry about opening it,  
it was burst in pieces before the gap behind it.

They could hear murmurs and groans coming from down this new entry ways depths.  
They carefully made their way down the snaking tunnel's length, it was only about a twenty foot walk before it opened abruptly to a room full of cages,  
it stank like urine and shit and vomit and death.

"Over there" Luna hushed, pointing to a cage just to their right.  
Remus Lupin was chained upright, to the bars of the cage's door, facing out,  
tattered rags around his waist rusty from blood and the iron they were pressed to.

They silently made their way to him, enchanted the locks open, carefully lowered him down and carried his life drained body  
to a darker corner of the room.  
His flesh looked like it had been pricked by a thousand needles, almost black from the sores and intrusions, his eyes barely open seemed vacant and hollow.  
Luna opened their pack, pulled out a bottle of honey colored syrup and put a generous drop on the poor man's tongue.  
He licked at it feverishly, she fed him more as he finished each last drop hungrily.  
Sirius took his flask opened it, put in some herbs he had pulled from his pack, then propped up his friends head and helped him drink.  
His eyes opened slowly a spark of life returning to his once dead gaze.

He looked at the two before him then backed away shielding himself like a child at a nightmarish vision.  
"Professor Lupin." Luna said in a soft comforting voice, then started humming a lilting melody soft and comforting, one that Sirius had heard on many a night.

His panic slowly subsided and he pulled his hands from his face and looked at the two that had cut him free.  
"Sirius? No! More tricks! Luna? But your gone too. I'm dead, but why am I here and why you? NO!"  
Luna kept humming as they let the revitalizing syrup and the clarifying herbs take their effect.

"Moony", Sirius gently called, "it is me! I'm here my old friend and we're getting YOU out of here."

Remus looked at room around him and strained his neck as the clarity potion brought back his mind, the reality of the last two years coming clear,  
mercifully returning to him as if he was watching from the outside.  
"NO" he said forcefully, his anger snapping him back to with a vengeance, "not until we deal with _**THIS."**_

He tried to stand but was still unable.  
Luna gave him the rest of the energy syrup and he drank it down with purpose.

"They're using my blood Sirius, to turn children into things."  
Luna looked at him and asked if they were creating the tormentors.  
"No," he told her then grabbed the two of them firmly hugging them close,  
"They're experimenting on non magic children, taking my blood and mixing it with the blood of other things and beasts.  
They're trying to create something, _unconscionable, soulless, ravenous_. All they've managed to do so far is turn these innocent ones into abominations.  
 _Get me up_." They helped him stand, the syrup and vehemence coursing through his blood gave him the resolve to find his feet.

He stretched the aching stiffness from his bones, joints and muscles, every fiber of him was filled with it.

"Others are coming we can take care of this, for now we need to get you out." Sirius said giving his friend the choice.

"No it ends here and now. _Why for Merlin's life can't the moon be full right now?_ "

Remus started to unlock the cages letting the unaffected children free, they fled from their confines, in fear of being snatched up again, alerting the guards in their haste.

"How many _of them_ are there?" Luna asked Remus, not waiting for his answer before she stripped off her clothes then shifted.  
"A dozen." he told her.

"Remus." Sirius called to his friend while removing his clothes too, "I'm going to bite you now, please don't be angry, just trust me."

The great black wolf turned to the man they had just released and bit him on the back of his thigh.  
Sirius shifted back to himself, grabbed his friend by the face and sternly commanded,  
"You know how to do it, you know the way it's done, so turn my brother, **turn now.** "

He shifted again and followed the screams.

Snowmist was already dripping with red, when the wolf entered the room, there were three bodies, including the one she had just tossed from her maw,  
laid out across the white marble floor, pools of mahogany seeping around them.  
A wizard stood, wand at the ready, but the wolf was on him before he could find his voice.  
Five more attackers made their way into the room, the first two were cut down by a flashing white paw, a third was met with the bone crunching grasp of cold canine teeth.

A loud and thunderous, hate filled roar bellowed in the room.  
The last two conspirators turned to flee but the lumbering beast, they so very quickly recognized, tore through one and followed the last with ferocity,  
the wolf and the cat on his heels.

He tried to close the door behind him but was tossed to the walls, as it exploded around him, his body broken fell in a heap on the floor.  
The last three wizards fell where they stood before they even had time to raise a wand.

The three beasts turned and hurried to the front room, not stopping to see what they had already seen in the room between, mangled half children,  
some cut open and displayed on a table, some slobbering in cages, some dead in them.  
They quickly shifted and without even dressing, freed the rest of the unaffected.  
The last child free, the three companions started preparing their own retreat from the bastardized stronghold.

"Cute butt." Luna chided at Remus.  
"I've wanted to tell him that myself on occasion." Sirius said needling his friend.  
Remus finally smiled.  
He embraced his rescuers once more holding them tight as his tears wet their faces and shoulders.  
"Thank you my friends."

They gathered their gear, Remus found his wand and some clothes that fit, in a crate by the tunnel entrance.  
They cautiously sped up the tunnel, into the cave, and out the entry way.

Buckbeak and Twilight were circling and tearing at tormentors that were circling the little cove beyond the cave's opening.  
Sirius found his bow and raised it to the nearest, as Luna pulled her wand from her coat, "Cruciarus Cesset" she spoke with force, a wave of red energy shot from her wand,  
struck two tormentors and sent them hurtling backwards, Sirius let an arrow fly, as Remus used the same spell Luna had just cast,  
it blasted back another tormentor tearing away a good amount of it's energy.

The arrow from Sirius's bow found it's mark and blue plasma ripped through the wraith as it screamed and violently departed.  
Luna seeing the effect of it, quickly found her weapon and knocked an arrow to the string she drew back and let fly, another tormentor burst from their view.  
They came out of the rocks around them, in numbers greater than the arrows they had, Remus was keeping them at bay, with his wand turning them back,  
then thinning the heard as he could, it took two or more hits of the spell to destroy them.  
The thestral and hippogriff were tearing into them as fast as they could but their one on one battles were slow.

Luna and Sirius were running lower on ammo with each banishment, as each shot fired, finding it's mark and vanquishing it's prey, meant one less at their disposal.

"Occidet Tortorem" came a scream from above and Helena Ravenclaw's wand threw out a beam of white light that burned another tormentor pulling it's energy from it,  
Minerva McGonagall echoed her words and finished it off quite quickly.  
The three other wizards with them followed suit scattering the tormentors with their number.

Remus spotted a movement against the slow rising face of the hill to his left, shifted again and broke for a tree on the edge of the ridge to the north of the cave opening,  
the wizard behind blinded by his position never saw the claws that ended him.  
A victorious howl rose up from where the wizard fell, the tormentors shrieked and where pulled back to the stone.

The battle was done, the invoker dispatched.

Sirius and Luna collected their arrows, while the others embraced a very naked, very embarrassed Remus Lupin,  
they found them all surprisingly enough, the blue glow staying bright and pulsing rhythmically against the dark green grass, until it slowly faded from their touch.

Sirius found Remus some pants in his sack and the naked werewolf was more than grateful for them even if the were a little tight and a touch too short.  
Sirius and Luna checked on their beast friends checking them for injury as the others prepared charms and spells to conceal the area until they decided it's future.

"Moony, will come with us," Luna told the others "just for a couple of days til he's him, he's got healing to do and things to hear too."  
Then she and Sirius went back into the cave gathered the bones of her friend wrapping them carefully in his own clothes and a black silk blanket.  
They departed from their friends again as, Minerva, Helena and Hagrid went to see if there was anything to be done for the affected.  
Neville and Myrtle sat guard at the caves entrance until they returned.

Remus on Twilight, his two friends on Buckbeak were just above the mountain that separated the latter's home from the rest of the world,  
when realized he had a question for the dark haired wizard he thought dead.

"In all this confusion, I forgot to ask, how the hell are you alive?"  
"An angel out of time old friend, an angel out of time." _  
"Ughh! I hope I can get that blood out of my fur?"_

. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-.

* * *

Phaesan Daenix: A phoenix like bird with whispy red, orange and yellow tail feathers, that burst into flames at the end of their mating, and regrow once the hatchling is a year old.  
Schwarze Sonne: A branch of the Third Reich, dedicated to occult practices.  
Parco Nazionale delle Dolomiti Bellunesi: An Italian park in the Alps close to Austria and Lichtenstein  
Castello Nella Roccia: Quite literally - Castle in the Rock


	10. Seven Scions

_X_

* * *

 **Seven Scions**

* * *

The eastern sky was darkening into a deep blue as the sun set, orange, fading over the edge of the world.  
The western skyline was full of clouds still afire in the orbs waning minutes.  
Remus, Luna and Sirius looked upon Pandora's Valley as the Phaedran were dancing their courtship, lighting up the ground below them in  
streams of yellow, drawing pictures in their wake.  
Pictures of symbols that etched in the eyes, only to fade into memory before the next one awakened.  
They landed in the field just outside the cabin, and were met by a short greyish character with long ears and bright eyes.  
"Welcome home Miss Luna, Mister Sirius." he said as he bowed.  
"Hello Wizzen." the two intoned before bowing back themselves.  
"Is this the friend you meant to free?" he asked  
"Wizzen this is Remus Lupin. Our very good friend indeed." Luna Replied.  
"It's a pleasure to meet more friends, Mister Remus Lupin, Welcome."  
"Thank you kind sir, but please it's just Remus." He flourished, returning the others respectful courtesies.  
"You've been busy I see." Luna noted, looking at a round wall of stones about three feet high with wood the perfect size for cooking placed neatly in it.  
"Wizzen thought Miss Luna and Mister Sirius would like to be warm when they sit outside, Whizzen made a place for Mister Remus to sleep,  
in the cabin, Wizzen new you'd be back with him."  
"Oh we have something for you." Sirius said, handing the elf a wooden crate like box.  
"FIGS." he joyously yelled.  
He handed the three travelers a share and the four friend's mouths went wet from the sticky sweet fruit.  
They sat by the fire chatting about the journey and the battle, when their story was told, the conversation turned toward Remus,  
and they informed him of what they had learned back at Hagrid's Cabin.

"So basically what you're telling me is, that I no longer have to lock myself in a cell to protect the people around me from the beast that I become?"  
"Became, Moony, became." Sirius explained, "What you become now, is you in animal form, just like you were in the lab after I bit you,  
the moon has no effect on you anymore, it's as if you're a regular plain old animagus, who just happens to be more were-shaped."  
"I wish I could believe that," Remus replied "but how can I take that chance."  
"Lock your fuzzy little ass up in the shack next moon and find out." Luna chimed.  
"See, my fuzzy bottomed friend, _that's_ why I love her." Sirius joked.  
"Listen here Cuddles, you're butt is far fuzzier than mine."  
"He's got a point My sweet. You do have quite the hairy tail."  
The three friends joked and laughed through the next few hours until, weary from his years of captivity, the experiments and incessant abuse,  
Remus Lupin nodded off in his chair.

Luna retrieved a blanket from the closet and wrapped him up in it, Sirius put another log on the fire.  
They left him there once they were sure he was in a peaceful sleep and went out by the lake to take a swim.  
They undressed and transformed into their animal bodies, "Hey," Luna thought, quizzically, "I'm clean."

A few hours into his nap, Remus woke, and for a very brief moment a panic set in him, but the quiet warmth of the fire,  
the pin pricks of light in the sky and the clean cool scent of a fresh autumn breeze,  
quickly settled the adrenaline that had fueled his heart rate.  
He considered settling back into unconsciousness but fought the thought off, for fear of losing anymore time to the place that had stolen his days.  
He stood from his chair, to stretch his legs and get some much needed exercise, wondering to himself,  
if the stench of that place would ever get out of his skin.  
He walked down a path, across a gently babbling stream, then through an opening in the wood.

Sirius and Luna were staring at the sky, watching the stars strain to be seen against the misty air above,  
that drifted through the night sky, like heat on a smoldering road.  
They were on their backs side by side, her head on his chest, bodies slightly askew, his arm pressed into hers, framing her into him,  
her arm across her stomach holding his hand against her belly.

The recently rescued wizard, was lost in the scenery and openness and noticed them just before he stepped on his friends arm.  
"Sorry!" he said, "I'll leave you two alone"

"Don't be goosey," the half sleepy woman replied, "go for a dip it'll be good for your brain."

He modestly removed only his shoes, socks and shirt, then walked into the water, cool and clear, feeling it washing away the filth from his mind,  
and healing the aches in his fibers.  
He laid himself back on the gradual slope near the shore with only his head out of the lakes cool embrace.  
He stared at the sky feeling remarkably alive again.  
It wasn't long before the melodious lapping, of the waves against him, hypnotically entranced him to sleep.

The two lovers gave in to the teasing of the sky on their flesh and made love while watching over their now resting friend.

Hagrid and Myrtle arrived back at the cave with the Sorelle*, a little after dawn the next morning.  
They examined the children and found them to be in many different stages of grotesque mutilation.  
The Sorelle were dressed in what could be considered very religious garments.  
Their raiment, tailored to conceal their reptilian appearance and lend them an air of imposing grace, complimented their aloof and cold demeanor.  
They were anything but.  
Their hearts burst at the sight before them, though their countenance remained icy and scientific.  
If they had the ability to shed tears they might not have seemed so stoic.  
The Sorelle took the worst of them, those that couldn't feed themselves or were very dangerous or dying.  
They put them into their wagons and returned to their enclave, where they could keep them alive, with all the dignity they could provide,  
They would heal all they could as best as was attainable and allow those, whose lives are past the point of return, to pass comfortably from this plane.

"Very interesting group." Myrtle commented as the last of the wagons departed.  
"Too quiet fer my likin." Hagrid responded, "I ope Minerva know what she doing."  
As the last of the horse-drawns disappeared around a bend, the wizards went back, to keep the last of their charges company,  
as they waited the transport to Hogwarts.

The day was breaking a new dawns seal, when Luna and Sirius took to the sky to return the bones of her comrade back to his families care.  
 _"We'll be back by nightfall Ree."_  
"Have a safe trip you two and give Friar's family my condolences"  
"We will my friend."

Remus watched as they soared over the treeline.  
He heard the plodding of the other transplanted resident of the green vale walking up the path.  
"Hello Wizzen" he greeted the elf with a smile.  
"Mister Remus," he bowed, "Miss Luna and Mister Sirius, have gone to return their friend?" the elf asked.  
"Mmmh hmm." the other affirmed, bowing politely, then asked, "What can I do to keep busy around here?"  
"Wizzen is going to tend to the pumpkins."  
"Teach me?" Remus asked.  
"Be Wizzen's honor." the servant of the woods responded.

By dusk, the children had arrived at the castle, by nightfall most were adopted.  
The affluent and benevolent families that had been called to this service rose to the challenge with pride.  
Minerva and Helena had found all but the last child a home, this one proved to be a bit more difficult to place.  
For one thing he was a lot bigger than his fellow affected, for a bigger reason still was his will.  
He was wild eyed with a disposition to match and scared almost everyone away with his growling, barking and mock biting.  
Unlike the others he seemed to retain some sense of self reliance, often jumping away to retrieve a piece of food he spied loose on a table or climb effortlessly  
up a tree to pick a fruit.  
He hated being closed in, getting agitated in any confinement where he could touch both walls in three jumps or less.  
He seemed more comfortable in bigger rooms if they had lots of windows, but still showed a little anxiety.  
Hagrid and Helena had discussed keeping him themselves but neither had the time, nor the place big enough to house the child.  
They considered expanding the cabin and arranging their workloads and were still discussing this possibility when there was a knock at the cabin door.  
Minerva McGonagall stood in the doorway, drenched from the torrential rains that were still raging on the castle grounds.  
Hagrid looked on the poor woman and started to speak but before he could usher her inside she said, "Come with me you two.", hopped on her broom and headed for the dark forest.  
Helena shifted and followed the woman, Hagrid lumbered behind shaking the earth with each giant step.  
They stopped abruptly as the elder woman dismounted and motioned for the others to be quiet.  
When they peered through the thickets, concealing a well worn clearing, Hagrid and Helena looked at Minerva with puzzled gazes.  
Grawp and the last affected boy were huddled together under a makeshift tarp.

"Well 'ere's a site i ne'er thought ta see." Hagrid amused.  
"The boy just got away from me," Minerva whispered, "I saw him running into the woods. When I found him, your, brother was sharing his food with him  
and the boy was giving him fruit in return. They were playing together when I went to come get you."  
"I'll check on em ery day," Hagrid said as hushed as he could, and the three agreed the monster child was home.  
"I didn't know Grawp was back, Hagrid." Minerva commented.  
"Aye, he ne'er left since that night. Guessin he feel he need ta be 'ere jus in case."  
"I know how he feels, and I'm glad for the child that he did." she responded.  
"Gonna need a name 'e is."

The hippogriff landed gently on the grass just outside the cabin, his charges dismounted and he happily made his way back to the wood.

Sirius and Luna stretched their legs to gather their land feet and heard a distinct chatter of conversation and laughter.  
Curious, they walked to the noise and passing the cabins edge saw Remus and Wizzen, on hands and knees, in the pumpkin patch pulling weeds and shifting dirt.

Remus looked more content than Luna could remember or Sirius either for that matter and he had known the man for a lot longer.  
"I wonder, if it's the relief of his condition, or this place?" Sirius surmised.  
"A little of both I think." Luna replied.

They were standing there, amused by the two odd gardeners, her shoulder nestled up against him, his arm down her side,  
she was holding his arm in both of her own hands across her chest.

Remus saw them looked at his new friend and joked "Look at them two you'd swear they were born conjoined."  
Wizzen laughed and added, "Sometimes they are, A LOT".

Remus chuckled loud, "Come, help you two," he bellowed, "something to do with your clothes on."  
"He's your friend.'' Luna smiled, then skipped her way to the garden.

It was later that night, after dinner was done, Wizzen had gone back to the little nook he had made into a cozy abode,  
and the three were discussing what to do next.

"It's well over a couple of days, I think it's time I get going. It's not that I feel like I'm putting you out or being ungrateful, because I am grateful.  
You're companionship and patience has been more than one could ask for,  
but I need to thank the others and get back to living." Remus told them, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"We get it, but are you sure you're healed enough to face out there again?" Luna asked.  
"I've felt good enough for that, since I fell a sleep in that pond." he replied.

"We'll leave in the morning then, should be there shortly after nightfall." Sirius stated, matter-of-fact.  
"If your up to it, you can help us find _the Weasley_." Luna said, "he seems to have gone twiddly ."  
"It would feel good to be on the right side of a rescue again, then I'll visit Harry and Ginny and see my son." he half said and half thought to himself.

Thordor took flight, the message he carried was short as usual, the less said, the less known,  
should things go awry on a sensitive matter, it was best to practice even with mundane news.

Picked the dog up from the vet.  
Be home for a late dinner.

Hagrid's cabin was getting too small to accommodate their growing little clan, but no one seemed to mind.  
They were too busy enjoying each others company.  
A habit they had taken to, as only those who know how quick you can lose those you love and trust truly can.  
They ate, with light hearts, shared news of the children and grilled their rescued friend on his condition.  
They finished dinner casually, each one helping to clean the table and set the room up for more serious concerns.  
Minerva started talks about rumors of dark practices, scattered across Europe, "they're just that, so far," she maintained, and "until they're confirmed..."  
They all agreed to wait for validity to them.  
When it was Helena's turn she suggested, to Remus, that she would like him to fill his old teachers position.  
He thanked her warmly, asking her if he could have some time, not to think about it, but to help an old friend first,  
see his child and see what the next full moon brings.  
She agreed.  
Myrtle and Neville informed them of things she discovered in the in between library.  
Hagrid inquired, "Since we're now eight, should we change the name of our lil group?"

It was Remus who replied with an insistent "No!".  
"It's not that I don't want to be a part of this, I do and will, but a name is just a name and this name  
will keep them guessing as to just how many we have."

Luna and Sirius only had one thing on their agenda.  
One they had reasoned, waited long enough,

 _"We need to find Ron,"_ Luna said, _"he thinks things are as they are most certainly not."_  
"I'm pretty sure you all realize what his demon is, but we think it's deeper than just thinking he killed Luna.' Sirius explained,  
 _"He thinks he's the lone survivor of Ziano, he doesn't know he inadvertently saved Sirius and that Remus was kidnapped and not dead."_  
''at's a lot for the poor boy to digest." Hagrid said sadly, "no wonder is 'ead cracked."

Sirius filled them in more, "When we returned Friar's remains to his family, they told us that he sent them a message to them for help.  
He was going to track down Remus and he'd meet them at a hotel in Ziano.  
He never showed.  
We think he found the cave and tried to rescue Remus and the children himself.  
He had told his family in the letter he thought Ron and Luna were dead, but he knew that either Remus was still alive or they had taken his body,  
for some purpose, because he could see drag marks and one of his shoes."

"So Ron thinks he killed Luna, which is what we were starting to figure, but also because of that,  
he thinks that he lead to the death of the others because he failed?" asked Helena.  
"Yes, that's what we think." Luna said "So what do we know? What do you know?"

What they knew was, he was sometimes seen, by Hermione, outside their house, maybe.

"Well Lu, do we set out tonight or wait til morning?"  
"Mornings fine, rise and shine." she said.  
"Mr Lupin yer can stay wit me if yer like," Hagrid offered.  
"Thank You Hagrid, I'll take the couch." Remus replied.

"We come to this shack so often it's starting to feel like we're cheating on someone."  
 _"I won't tell me if you don't tell you."_

. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-.

* * *

Sorelle: An order of Italian witches, descendants of a were-lizard, dedicated to the care of the incurable. They are 13 in number, and each one well over a millennia old.  
Though they are known in the area they reside, the locals have such a respect for them they help them live in secrecy, some of them serving as go-betweens  
for anyone needing their special assistance. They tend and care to the magically as well as physically maligned.


	11. A Voice In The Distance Calls You Home

_XI_

 **A Voice In The Distance Calls You Home**

* * *

Three figures appeared on the King's Cross Platform, a little before Ten in the morning.  
They were an odd looking group, but not so much that they didn't blend in with the crowd that shuffled around them.  
The younger member was dressed in a green sweater adorned with bunnies and carrots, blue jeans and earrings made of hazelnuts,  
her feet were covered by black boots that rose to the middle of her calf, and long wavy whitish blonde hair that fell just below her waist.  
The oldest looking was attired in the fashion of a high school professor, a beige corduroy jacket and slacks, his brown shoes kept but not polished,  
his blonde grey hair much in the same condition as his shoes.  
In contrast, to his companions, the third was clad in a black shirt and vest, dark blue jeans and boots similar to those of the woman who walked by his side,  
his black hair streaked in grey flowed just below his shoulders.

They rose from the stairway into the bustling city and walked a short distance to Paddington Station with out so much as a second glance from  
the hustling and bustling people around them.  
After a few trains and short walks, that seemed to coincide wonderfully with the time they needed for a stretch the younger noted,  
and a final quick ride on a bus, they arrived, at a pharmacy in Exeter, at a quarter to two.

They lunched on fish and chips, before walking the last half mile west, and arrived, at the Ottery St. Mary, residence of Hermione and Ron Weasley,  
a little after half-past.

Remus was met with a very warm reception, by the mistress of the house who ushered him in quickly.  
She took his coat, offered him a seat and took to the kitchen to put on some water.  
"I hope you like Duchess grey," she called as she lit and adjusted a flame under the kettle.  
She hurried back adding "It's all we have left right now, I just haven't done very much shopping."

"It's fine Hermione, it's one of my favorites." he said, knowing how much she prided herself on her social graces.  
"So good to see you Mr Lupin," she grinned, slightly forced but no less genuine in it's meaning, "what brings you over this way?"  
"Remus, please," he said, "We've been through enough in our past, to dispense with formalities,"and in answer to your question,"  
he was going to say _we came for..._ then caught himself and just said, "Ron."  
"He's not here.' she said sadly, not knowing if he knew her husband had been missing for almost two years.  
"I know," he said, "I have some news you need to hear."

He told her of the last night he saw him, the day he himself had been captured, leaving out his experiences and skipping right to matter at hand.  
"Ron did not kill Luna, he threw her two years into the future." He said, emphasizing his words, to let them sink in.  
"Is she okay? Where is she," she asked.  
"She's fine," he replied, "but that's not all. She was sent backwards first and someone came back with her. She's out on your porch with Sirius".  
"What?" she asked, moving to her door before she realized she had even stood up,  
and there on the porch railing, cuddled together, were two ghosts from her past returned.  
She invited them in, a million questions to ask, her curiosity and thirst for knowledge, almost outweighing the source of her tired look.

The tea KETTLE whistled, and her decorum paused her and before she could ramble the third or fourth of those questions off, she was in the kitchen gathering cups.  
Luna followed her to lend her a hand, but her hospitality was not one to contest.  
"We're not your guests." Luna commanded, causing the target of her statement to look hard upon her,  
"We're your friends and your family and _we're here to help_.'' she added in a strict and gentle tone, "so slide the hell over Mi."  
Hermione felt those words hit her heart she hugged Luna hard as tears fell from her cheeks and, for the first time in months, she  
let herself cry.

"So you're sure it's Ron at the window and not just a phantom wish or someone a little perverted?" Remus asked.  
"Yes." she answered, "It's not always the same window, but always in the back of the house, and there's always footprints left behind  
and occasionally I get a glimpse of red locks. I leave him food, and sometimes throw in stuff he hates, it's always left behind."  
"Well we have a plan, to capture him at least, we'll need to work out the details of mending him as we go." Luna informed.  
They told her their idea and she agreed it might work, if it didn't, at least she'd be sure if it was Ron, her own mental desires or something else.

She made arrangements with the owner of the cafe, on the block behind her house, to have three customers use his roof for their purpose.  
"Greedy bastard." she mumbled on her way home.  
They had a few hours before they needed to make themselves scarce, so they finally had a chance for chit chat.  
Hermione was once again in full hospitality mode, and made them an early dinner.  
They dined and conversed, answering the million questions she could finally ask.

The clock, rang ten, with five chirps and five hoots, as a canary and an owl popped out from different sides of the clock face.  
Three quiet figures were sitting on a roof watching the back yard adjacent, patiently waiting for their friend to arrive.  
He didn't disappoint them.

"It's time, cuddles." Luna whispered.  
Sirius transformed to his wolf kind form and waited, watching the figure by the window intently.  
A shadow passed between the light and the glass, the voyeur was spying through, and started steadily shrinking.  
The hulking form stepped back from the flower bed, jumped the fence and vanished through the trees and backyards of the neighboring houses,  
a stealthy black wolf was on his heel following his steps and scent.

.-. .- ..- ... .

Minerva MacDonagal was sitting in her office, one candle burning and a great grey owl on her desk, watching her intently.  
The letter that arrived, now displayed on her desk, simply read, Cows grazing.  
The woman reading the letter, placed it back into the envelope, and slumped down into her chair,  
her head leaned back, her eyes fixed to the ceiling and she let out a sigh.  
She rose from her chair, walked the short distance to the fireplace, her shoulders straining as she flexed her spine,  
she breathed deeply through her nose and tossed the page to the flame and exhaled as it was consumed in a swift flickering blaze.  
She watched it burn with a violent flash, her eyes set to steel in her resolve.  
"Minerva?" came a voice from just outside her door.  
"Yes child." came her response, it's grandmotherly warmth confounding the displeasure in her heart.  
"It's bad isn't it?"  
"Yes Helena it is."

.-. .- ..- ... .

About a quarter of a kilometer to the east and a touch north from Hermione and Ron's quiet little house, Remus, Luna and Sirius,  
were staring through a hedgerow at four dilapidated buildings.  
"What is this place Sirius?"  
"It's a paddock." Luna happily stated, "too bad it's empty I would have liked to go for a ride."  
"He's over there in that roundish building." Sirius informed them.  
"How are we handling this?" Remus said as much to himself as the other two.  
"I think Luna should go in alone." Sirius said.  
"That might be easier on him." Remus agreed.  
"Or it could make him go completely starkers." Luna quipped.  
"I'll take the front door. Remus, guard the door behind Lu. If it gets gnarled we may have no other choice than to quiet him." Sirius reasoned.  
Luna walked into the paddock's abandoned building like she was on a field trip in a daydream,  
looking around with the face of a child lost in wonder in a magical palace or a crystal cave.  
She could almost hear the hoof beats and whinnies and it made her a little sad.

Ron was curled up in a ball near the far wall, fetal.  
He heard boards creek and sprang to his feet, ready for flight.  
"Hi Ronald," Luna called with a light lilting tone.  
"Who?" Ron questioned, squinting into the half light that shined on her, from the windows in the upper slope of the roof,  
"YOU, CAN'T BE, YOU, I KILLED YOU," he screamed.  
He backed away slowly then took out his wand and screamed "Descendo" the beams of the roof fell between them as Sirius and Remus burst in wands at the ready.  
Ron was already up the ladder that lead to a loft and disappeared through a gap in the outer wall.

"I so hate being right, sometimes." Luna exasperated.  
"What now? Hermione is going to be very upset."  
"Remus, I think you just love stating the obvious."  
Luna interrupted her two companions, "I guess we'll have to put him to sleep."  
"I think there's something else at play here, I think they fiddled with his mind." Remus remarked a spark of a memory pulsed through his brain.  
"Those dark ones from the cave?" she asked.  
"Yeah. Thankfully a lot of what was done to me I don't remember, but what was done to others I do."  
"That is both good but sad." she told him, then kissed his cheek sympathetically.  
"Potions, they were testing potions there too. I need to go back to that cave, you two go to Hermione and tell her.  
We need to trap him in her house because this could take awhile."

He borrowed Luna's broom and flew back in the direction of a place he'd rather forget than revisit.

Hermione knew the news was bad as soon as only two returned.  
"Sorry Mione, we lost him."  
"But he is alive and it _was definitely_ him that comes to visit." Sirius continued.  
"Did he look well?" she asked.  
"He looked like you would expect after two years of living in a horse barn." Luna told her,  
"but he moved like he was not unhealthy."

Hermione sat in the big cushiony chair and sank into it.  
Luna put her hand on her head, then walked into the kitchen to pour some more tea.  
She hummed a familiar tune on the way.  
Sirius pulled a chair and sat down facing Hermione, taking her hands in his and leaned into her view.

"Remus has gone to find some answers, when he gets back we need to try and find a way to capture Ron, here inside this house." Sirius explained to her.

"He won't come in," she told him, "I've left windows and doors open with food on the table and nothing."  
Luna, now offering her a cup of tea from a tray, simply said, "He'll come in for you Mi."  
"What do you mean, he hasn't come in for me before." she exclaimed.  
"But he would if he thought you were in trouble." Sirius said thoughtfully.  
"It's cruel, but it's kindly." Luna noted.  
Hermione agreed and helped work out the trap, she hoped, would bring her husband home.

.-. .- ..- ... .

A few hours later Remus Lupin was standing at the mouth of a cave, choking back the need to vomit.

"I can't believe I'm fucking doing this."

. -. -.. / -.-. ... .- .-. - . .-.


End file.
